John Carter: The War
by Freelancer 205
Summary: "The War." A simple statement that would come to define the ashes the Lylatian Expanse fell into and their subsequent withdrawal from certain defeats' clutches. If not addressed, "The War" will shred the expanse into ribbons of its former self. Rated M for war violence, language, possible drug and sexual reference.
1. Prologue

Authors Note: This is my 3rd fanfiction. I know there was a lot of backlash for my previous fanfic's being riddled with plot holes and just poor writers block crap writing. Also, being that it's been 5x years since my last update, I've gained some more real world experience in terms of writing, experience and such.

This story will restart the John Carter series from what & where it needs to be and continue on a singular plot line (with slight off-shoots for content of course) until I die or get tired of it.

The other two stories (JC: UNSC Marine Corps & JC: Reality) will stay posted but do not represent the current flow of the story line. The titles of those other two stories have been changed to reflect that.

Prologue

The room was dimly lit, dust and clutter strewn about the oak table top and concrete floor. The small enclosures' walls were bare save for cracks in the grey concrete, overall the appearance seeming that of a military bunker in a modest state of disrepair, the air scented with a mix of mustiness and dirt. At the far side of the broad oaken table sat a lithe built leopard, a large news style camera setup off to his right with a short, semi stocky coyote manning it. As the leopard sat waiting patiently, his paws pensively toyed with a pen over his writing pad, an array of idly constructed doodles and some scant notes sprawled across the yellow paper, his eyes a soft curious green that glanced all about the dank room and up to the light, him musing internally if it was even enough light for why he was here. Letting off a nearly inaudible sigh, his eyes trailed back down to his paper patchwork of notes and he let his pen tip rest alongside his top note, a singular question that had been starred and underlined, "Who is he?"

As he sat and pondered his own self-made question, his sensitive ears perked up and shortly thereafter his attention followed, his eyes drawn to the door where a trio of soft boot steps could be heard tracking down the hallway, a flush of nervousness washed over him and he gripped his pen in his writing paw, using his other to smooth the thin fur over his muzzle before clearing his throat out of habit, a firm knock on the hefty door echoing into the room. His panic ebbed away and he sat confident in his seat as his voice noised the room clearly, "Please come in" was his simple response to the knocking request for entry, upon which time the steel door slowly swung open, the trio being shown to the dim light and thusly entering. Among them being a short, muscled fox, a much taller and equally as muscled dark furred wolf, and lastly, an oddity at best for the group to see… A human, tall, taller than each of them, square jawed with several days' worth of stubble along his cheeks, chin and neck. His brow beaded with sweat.

The leopard was a bit in awe as he looked over the sight before him, him allowing his jaw to drop open, if only slightly. The green inquisitive orbs, full of desire for learning scanned over the tall human, from his short dark brown hair all the way down to his boots, the leopard taking in every detail of the man's uniform, his bulky yet efficient looking body armor and subsequent attachments. The way he stood there, commanding respect silently as his scratched and well-worn rifle hung from its sling in front his kit and armor. The camouflage the man wearing being a mix of green, tans and brown small splotches, the leopard wracking his memory to think of what it had been called… "Multicam…" he thought to himself. He noticed furthermore that the man's uniform and gear looked worn, dusty, and soaked through with sweat, not to mention the dark red blood stain on his left forearm sleeve, the cuff of his blouse cut away and rolled up to his elbow, a stained white bandage wrapped around his muscular forearm. The leopard let his eyes travel back up to the large humans face once more and studied it for a few moments, noticing the tiredness in his features but the intense alertness in his eyes, as if he'd not slept for a long while yet remained dedicated to his mission.

After his several seconds of shock and review, the leopard gestured to the seat across the table in front of the tall man. "Please, have a seat" was the leopards quiet offer to the human, who nodded and smoothly pulled the chair back, easing into the old wood frame resting piece, it creaking under his significant bulk. The leopard smiled a bit, the sides of his muzzle creasing up lightly as he did so, him looking down to his notes before pulling out and donning a pair of slim framed reading glasses, getting his pen ready as his ripped his first page off and set it to his left, exposing a fresh sheet of paper before looking back up to the human in front of him.

"So, you're here because you accepted an invite for an interview for the Cornerian Military Historical Society, correct?" The leopard looked on pensively, hoping the human would back out at this time… the man in front of him nodding and resting into the chair easily.

"Great! Now I'm going to be asking you a long series of questions if you don't mind. At any time, just feel free to request a break. Oh, and if you're about to divulge classified data for the record, please denote that so it can be properly edited and stored. Is this alright?" The human nodded and for the first time spoke, his voice low and clear, with a tone of fatigue edged in, "Yes, that's fine by me."

At this point, the two other who had entered with the human had turned and quietly exited, their footstep sounds diminishing to nothing down the long corridor behind the now re-closed door. All that could be heard for a few moments was the quiet breathing of all three individuals and the occasional shift in a seat before the leopard spoke up again, "Okay, let's start from the beginning… I am Ensign Connor Marcius, what's your name, rank, position, etc.? Sorry, I normally know these things ahead of time, but you were just sent at random for the interview."

Nodding a bit, the man let off a small smile at the edge of his lips, "No worry. I'm Captain John Carter, commander/leader of the Blackfox Initial Response Team."

The leopards jaw fell agape and he set his pen down upon his pad. This was the one man he'd desperately wanted to interview ever since all this had happened. The one man who had stood in the face of the enemy and led his race to battle when no one else had the courage.

The leopard glanced down to his pad again, his pen making its way back into his fingers and him scrawling out four simple letters and a period below his initial question; HERO.


	2. Chapter 1 - Revelations

Chapter 1: Revelations

John sat there quietly as the leopard in front of him wrote something down, looking over him and glancing to the camera slightly before looking back at his inquisitive host, who just as quickly as he looked down, glanced back up and smiled.

"You know, I and a lot of our historians have been trying to speak with you and your team for the longest while." The leopard said matter of factly, John shrugging slightly at the statement. "Sorry to have kept you all waiting, we were… busy I suppose."

The leopard sat up straighter and nodded, "I do not doubt that. If I may ask, how did you get here? This whole situation I mean. I've heard the rumors surrounding you and your team, as well as the initial defense force, but I want to know the facts."

John nodded again and leaned forward, resting his arms on the heavy table, "Well that is a rather broad question Mr. Marcius. Are you asking how we got into Lylat or onto Corneria, or just involved in the first place?" His features belied his inner fatigue, the bags under his eyes looking heavy.

Connor replied quickly as he readied his pen, "The lattermost portion, how you and your team got involved in the first place please."

Carter chuckled softly and leaned back in the creaky chair, stretching a bit as he took his rifle off, resting it against the side of the chair, "Heh, well I hope you've got quite a bit of paper there… Let me see, how did this all begin… Well, back on Earth in the early 1980's, one of your scout ships wandered into our system, scanning for life. Well, yall found us on this little blue ball of life, third stop from the local sun. Now this is history for me… so you may be better on the details than I am." Connor nodding as he took notes idly.

"After watching for a long while and making rudimentary contact with our military and space exploration program, we and Lylat established that a peaceful yet tenuous relationship might work. So in secret, the US government partnered with the Cornerian Governmental Council for the purposes of technology sharing, mostly for medical and research capability. The CGC refused military support outside of minor research assistance. Again, I'm probably just rehashing facts you already know." John reached up and rubbed his eyes a bit as Connor still listened intently.

"Well, skipping a bunch more of the boring shit, this went on for thirty or so years, sharing the minimal technology allowed and Lylatians helping us humans advance mainly our medical technologies and practices, especially the combat medical aspects. Weekly transport arrivals were not out of the ordinary, all kept in secret as it was disguise as NASA operations. This all continued up until about 2013, at which time the transports ceased. Just stopped entirely with no recourse or explanation. We humans tried desperately to get in touch with the CGC again, but to no avail. Several years passed, still trying to reach out to our long lost allies… until late summer 2017. That's when it all changed."

Connor cocked his head curiously and looked over the humans form, "How do you mean? The date seems familiar but the significance escapes me."

John looked back over the leopard and then up to the camera, "That thing is on right? Because this is where the story gets juicy." The coyote behind the camera nodding silently to not sully the record.

"I and my team were on standby as a quick reaction force for a suspected terrorist threat, just waiting for the call as we slept. Well, that fateful night, August 29th 2017 at 0158hrs, we got the call that an unidentified aircraft had crash landed mostly intact within our QRF response grid. We woke from our slumber and quickly kitted up, sprinting out to our waiting choppers and heading to the area of interest. Our convoy of four fast attack and two gunships quickly heading off over the ninety mile distance. Within five miles of the drop zone, we put on our gas masks and loaded our weapons, the choppers circling us into a mostly empty countryside with a large aircraft smashed into the ground and tree line at the edge of the huge pasture. We landed and pressed on our objective, most of the area already having been secured by local police and emergency response, keeping their distance for the fear of a chemical or biological threat as had been stated in the long running terrorism threat for the past year or so. As I neared the aircraft, something was amiss to me… you're writing all this down right?"

The leopard nodded as he scribbled key notes and possible questions furiously, the video catching the rest of Carters monologue.

"Okay, well I'll continue then. We moved up to the aircraft and as I looked over the side….."

*****Flash Back*****

Our six choppers landed on the eastern side of the crashed aircraft, all my team quickly disembarking and pressing in line abreast toward the craft, all sixteen of us on the ground moving forward as the two gunships with our four snipers total stayed airborne, watching over the area with FLIR and night vision. The darkness of the early morning was intensive all around us, broken up by the flash of our weapons lights. We closed to within a hundred meters of the aircraft and I took my eight man squad further forward, inspecting the aft left side of the air vehicle, looking for any indication of the airline or country it was from. There was no such indication, save for a charred and half scraped away rounded emblem, the front half being obscured but the back half showing "..GC" with the Cornerian Defense Forces emblem directly adjacent to it.

My rifle slowly lowered and I clicked on my Comm set, "All Channels, All Channels, this is Gold 1-6, highest received echelon respond. I say again, highest receiving echelon respond, over."

My team remained on standby and set up security around us, mostly watching the craft as my Comm crackled back to life, "Gold 1-6, this is Gold Actual, we have you on our channels, over."

"Gold actual, gold and Grey team are at the site of the crash, the situation is negligible yet determined. I say again, the situation is negligible yet determined, over."

The comm set stayed silent for a few moments before coming back to life again, "1-6, this is Gold Actual, prepare to authenticate… Is the fox fuzzy?"

"Gold actual, this is 1-6. Negative, the fox is red." My team stood about, the younger members not certain of what the situation even was, nor why the communications were so cryptic. However, my more seasoned members of the team immediately understood the gravity of the situation and dispatched a fire team to disperse the police and EMS, warning them that an intensively dangerous bio weapon was released in the crash.

"Gold 1-6, this is Havoc Actual, Gold Actual is standing by and I am your operations commander now. What is the status of the crash site? Are our friends present?"

"Havoc Actual, Crash site secured, no friends present. Civilian personnel still on site." No sooner had I finished this statement than a young canine in a dark blue Cornerian flight uniform came stumbling from a breach in the crashed ship's hull, moving towards my teams lights, holding his side. One of my men scanning his weapon rapidly over to the injured Lylatian, the German shepherd anthro holding up a paw in begging for help, me watching the situation unfold in near slow motion, me immediately dropping my rifle and unfolding into a dead sprint, screaming to stand down as I watched the young twenty two year old soldier tense, his body aligning as he began to squeeze the trigger in fear and misunderstanding of the new creature, my huge body colliding with the side of his right as soon as the weapon unleashed its loud report of flash and sound, the five point five six millimeter round exploding forth towards the terrified looking shepherd, striking him in the left leg as I wrestled my team mate on the ground and yelled out, "Stand the fuck down!"

Everyone looked curiously as the canine laid on the ground in pain, still on edge as I quickly moved over to the anthro dog, pulling my knife and swiftly slicing through the leg of his flight suit pants, pulling my extra tourniquet from my IFAK pocket and wrapping it around his upper thigh and tightening it to stop the bleeding quickly, applying a bandage over the wound and wrapping it in elastic gauze. The whole time the canine frozen in fear and pain as he looked up at my gas mask hidden face, me pulling a small flashlight and looking at his flight jacket, seeing his name tape listed in Lylatian English, '1st Lieutenant Adrian Mackenzie.'

"Lieutenant Mackenzie, how many fingers am I holding up?" I asked in a gas mask muffled voice as I held up three fingers, him replying nervously and wincing as he tried to speak, "Th..three." at which point I remembered him holding his side and called over our medic to try and stabilize him from a likely broken rib.

"Mackenzie, how many others are inside?" he looked up at me and strained a response, "f..fiv…five…"

I held up my gloved hand, all fingers extended and asked, "Five personnel?"

He slowly shook his head and groaned as he finished, "Five…hu…hundred…twen…" as he neared his last statement he passed out from pain in his lower side and I called my squad that was on over watch up to assist me in moving into the ship and pulling our Cornerian allies to safety.

As I sent my squad into the breach of the ship, I realized my comm had come back to life, Havoc on the other end, "1-6, 1-6 respond…"

"Havoc I have you, 1-6 here, over"

"1-6, we've dispatched an aid and containment element to your location, status? Over."

"Perimeter secured Havoc, civilian personnel oscar mike. 1x wounded friendly, unaccounted numbers within crash, squad moving in to assess. Over."

"Roger that 1-6, stay on site and keep it secured."

Within only an hour, numerous choppers had arrived with medical personnel. Within two hours, CDC vehicles had shown up to add to the façade and provide huge plastic covers for the crashed ship. By sunrise four hours later, the ship was covered and crawling with personnel, aid stations treating critically injured Lylatians under the cover of tents and vehicles, even inside the ship itself.

A vast cordon was set up, keeping civilians and press personnel out at least a mile. Once the injured were all being treated, I and my team managed to track down the ship's captain, a short raccoon by the name Oscar Vareus and pulled him as well as one of his ensigns into the privacy of one of the command tents, finding out just what was going on.

"We were trying to reach you through the usual channels, assuming that the alliance still stood after all these years." He went on to say.

I gave him a curious look, "Why wouldn't the alliance still stand? And there was no transmission on any channel."

He frowned deeply and leaned back against a medical crate, "Our comms relay must have gotten damaged during the raid then." He seemed to muse to himself before looking me square in the eye, "We came to call on the alliance… Lylat needs help badly…"

I gave him another curious look and could see the sheer desperation in his eyes, the sincerity of his words, that everything he'd just said was the truth.


	3. Chapter 2 - The Apex of The Beginning

Chapter 2: The Apex of The Beginning

Spacial Sector Armedes

Tantalos System

Planet Gamarros IV, Lylatian Pleasure Colony, Edge of known Lylatian Space

7 years, 3 months, 19 days ago

"We're standing here on the corner of Harvard Street as the preparations for the new years delebration are underway. Expect the parade and fanfare this year to be quite magnificent. We'll be back later on the evening news."

The tall light brown furred wolfess sighed softly as the camera man in front of her lowered his large reporting device and turned away to go pack it up in the news vehicle, her pushing the microphone into the back pocket of her pants suit before reaching up and letting her hair down. She was quite tired of this new gig, even though it paid well and got her to meet interesting people. She was just tired of having to "be happy and presentable" all the time, as her supervisor had stated.

"Ms. Connors, are you ready to go?" The wolfess turned back to see her young camera man standing in front of her. She envied him a bit as she regarded him for a moment, him never having to worry about being on camera. Never having to always put on a facade for the public if he was having a bad day the way she had to.

Regardless, she smiled in a friendly manner at the young tabby and nodded, "Yeah, lets get out of here."

They both began walking towards the news van, climbing into it and slowly heading off towards the news headquarters for their district. She was actually somewhat excited about the rest of her day, the evening news report being able to be reported on in a rather casual manner, and as such she had aready chosen her attire and venue. She would report on the middle of the parade as it passed close to the white sand beach, dressed in her modest black bikini and flowing aqau blue waist wrap, a small smile forming on her muzzle as she imagined some of the viewers reactions, one in particular. Either way, she still had eleven hours to relax till the evening report.

Arriving at their news HQ, they parked and walked into the building, carrying their equipment to drop off. As they walked in, it seemed as if everyone in the lobby was glued to the screen of the main news monitor, graphics of some kind of attack overlaying the screen. The wolfess reporter brushed it off as a rehashing of footage from the Aparoid invasion of Lylat a year ago and continued on, heading back to her office area to grab her change of clothes before she noticed that the building was eerily quiet, everyone she passed glued to a news screen.

Intensely curious now, she walked to her supervisors office and peeked in, seeing he and his colleague were also motionless and silent in front of the TV. Sheepishly almost, she walked in and peered over their shoulders, the corner of the screen emblazoned with white lettering on a red background, LIVE indicating this was no replay. Her paw went to her muzzle as she realized this feed was from the edge of her very system, the planet surface of Elyad apparently under attack by an unknown foe, the feed from the city of Marks under heavy ground and air attack.

 _"This is unbelievable! Whatever enemy this is cut through our planetary defenses like nothing! They're indiscriminately killing civilian and military forces alike!"_ The scenes portrayed on the screen were gruesome and grisly, the intense fear in the reporters eyes as plasma and laser bolt traveled all around, Lylatian and local Tantalos system soldiers in the background fighting feverishly before a series of explosions and shrapnel nearby caused the camera to go static. The room, nay, the building was dead silent before the wolfess asked a single question, "What's the broadcast delay between here and Elyad?"

Her supervisor turned back to her, not realizing she'd entered the room prior to now. "I.. Im not sure, perhaps four... maybe five hours..." Was the short, stout calicos uncertain response.

"We need to push this out... The citizens need to prepare for this new threat." The room was silent still before a bustle of commotion in the hallway pulled them from their quiet meeting, persons running toward the exit and out into the road to look up at the sky, which was filled with streaking fireballs as foreign ships pressed through the stratosphere... fighters, dropships and multiple heavy cruiser class ships pressed in over the surface of Gamarros IV. Lylatian and Tantalos fighters alike responding in kind, the sky filled with heated displays of aerial combat as both friendly and enemy fighters erupted into flames and plummeted towards the gorgeous planet below.

*****Five Minutes Later*****

"Hammer Five, Hammer Five! You've got bandits on your tail!"

"I see 'em wing lead! Cant...Shake them...!"

"Hammer five Im moving in to intercept!"

The young canines eyes were awash with fear and adrenaline as intense laser bolts passed by his fighters cockpit, the intensity of the bolts themselves enough to cause the paint on his left wing to bubble from the shear heat.

Suddenly the fire from his aft let up and the enemy blip on his rear radar dissapeared.

"Hammer five, this is Lead, got your ass saved again. Move to work on those drop craft."

The canine sighed lightly inside his helmet as he turned his aircraft as he pulled off toward a trio of blocky looking dropships, their escort seemingly busy with the vast numbers of friendly fighters filling the air. Her closed in and took up chase as they headed toward the planets surface, his crafts air intercept computer scanning and analyzing the enemy craft, highlighting vulnerable points along their engines support structures on his HUD, him maneuvering in to take the first craft, his gloved paws gripping tight around the control sticks as he began to open fire, stripping away the weak shielding and thin covering to a plasma conduit, his next bolts severing the high power pipeline and triggering a massive explosion at the right aft of the dropship, his face a visage of focus as his transitioned to the next craft, lining up for his shot right as the air all around his craft transistioned to a brilliant white, immense anti ship plasma bolts from the nearby heavy cruiser passing within mere feet of his small single ship, not one landing a direct hit, but simply by the grotesquely overpowered intensity of the bolts, his right wing buckled and bubbled, sheering away from the rest of the craft, the inside of his cockpit sweltering as alarms blared and he let out a deafening scream, his flight controls sparking and failing under his paws as his craft plummeted toward the planet below, paws fumbling for the ejection release, that system fried too. Resigned to his fate, the young pilot looked back up to his failed flight controls, a picture tacked to the violently spinning altimeter, him smiling softly as he focused on that image. A young light brown furred wolfess smiling back at him from the stationary picture, her standing on a flawless whit sand beach, the new aqua blue waist wrap he'd bought her wrapped about her hips.

He smiled and closed his eyes as his ship struck the center of town violently.

*****One Week Later*****

The view of Gamarros IV from orbit was that of smoldering fires from battles that raged over entire continents. Entire cities gone with the invading forces indiscriminate use of nuclear warheads. The death toll was already in the millions in a week and Gamarros IV wasnt the only planet to have suffered this fate. Five of the six planets in the Tantalos system had been taken in four days, the defending military force on them reduced to pockets of resistance with no way to get space bound.

This new foe did not take prisoners. Civilian or Military, Old or Young, Male or Female... there was no discrimination, everyone was a target with almost machine like precision and dedication.

The entirety of the Tantalos 7th Heavy Fleet had been destroyed within the first two days of the invasion, having led in and taken the brunt of the fighting forces rage. The remaining 4th and 8th fleets consisting of two carriers, twelve battlecruisers and twenty eight frigates each were, offensively speaking, combat inneffective and holding in orbit around the remaining uncaptured planet, Gamarros IV. It had been utterly wracked by the battles over the past week. The humanitarian crisis was nearly unbearable on the surface... water running short, food stocks depleting, areas of safe harbor in short supply. It was mainly because of the enemy forces use of nuclear weapons, having contaminated most of the areas and supplies with radiation.

Calls for reinforcements echoed into the neighboring systems, the closest fleet being two weeks away.

The fleet commander looked over the situation at his terminal and sighing deeply and frowning at all that was shown. The need for supplies throughout his fleet was present... Fuel, food, munitions and water. As was the need for the same things on the planets surface. The men fighting there needing relief from their posts.

His concern was elsewhere though. No force had ever taken 90% of a system in less than a week. Ever. The fact unnerved him to a great degree.

He looked back out to the viewport, his floppy ears laid back at the planet view below him, something in his heart and mind telling him that this conflict would be the worst the Lylatian Confederation had ever seen.


	4. Chapter 3 - The Expanse

Authors Note: Thank you to all of those that have been reviewing and keeping me on track for this revamping of the John Carter series.

I have recently completed an entire layout of the John Carter literatures universe for now and most of the foreseeable future that I'll be writing from. If you'd like to provide feedback on the universes layout, please PM me and I'll shoot you some of the data and graphics so you can critique it.

As always, thanks again for reviewing my 'meh' writing ability and sticking in there with me ha-ha. Stay tuned for there will be more to come.

Chapter 3: The Expanse

/: Log Book Open/Date: 11.11.12ALW/Single Entry/

It's been a rather long six months since the start of this conflict. Every gain we make against the enemy, who've now identified themselves as _Ordinis Deorum Chaos_. Through their intercepted propaganda channels and communications, they seem to be on a mission of cleansing, primarily of the Lylatian kind. All attempts at mediation and diplomacy are met with rampant aggression and immediate destruction of our peace parties.

It would seem the only logical option is a full-fledged war against these beings and their apparent ideologies. It is in line with my best judgment that the Cornerian Governmental Council and the Lylatian Federation deploy the 12th Main Battle Fleet and Planetary Defense Force to the Tantalos System from Tarn in an effort to bolster the already beleaguered 4th and 8th fleets in the system, who are being supported by elements of the 107th Special Aviation Squadron from Serus. The Lylatian and Tantalonian forces already in the system have retaken Gamarros III and all of Gamarros IV, albeit at heavy losses. All commanders are reporting a less than 25% capability for their remaining forces in Tantalos. Food, Water, Fuel and Munitions are in short supply throughout the fleet. Primary casualty points are among deployed ground forces. Even with air support, our Expeditionary Marine Deployment Units are suffering heavy attrition from combat losses and are no longer capable of supporting already in place ground forces on Gamarros III & IV. Heavy equipment and resupply drops to the surrounded forces on the ground on Gamarros II are nearly impossible, being the enemies' persistent air coverage and intensive orbital defense network. The Lam System has committed humanitarian aid; however the shipments will not arrive until we can assure their vessels safety.

Per Directive 12-094, all shipboard nav systems have been purged prior to ship destruction or capture and thus far, no shipboard AI has fallen into enemy hands. The locations of remaining systems in the expanse are still retained in CGC and Lylatian control; though I fear it is only a matter of time before a serious setback allows our foe to access the data that would reveal our other systems.

Casualty Report (Uncorroborated Initial Reports):

Military – 29,000+ KIA / 147,000+ WIA

Civilian – 9.8+ Million KIA / 50+ Million WIA

Countless missing and unaccounted for

Please respond with haste given that our personnel cannot hold out much longer.

/:Log Close/Priority Status: High/Transmit CGCHQ SERUS/DTS: 11.11.12-1429USTALW/

In a lone bunker under the surface of the planets lush green overlay, a single monitor blinked on, an indicator flashing upon its display showing that a high urgency message had just arrived. The date/time stamp in the lower right of the screen steadily displaying 3USTALW. The message indicators silent blinking seeming to mock the situation at hand, for if the casual observer had entered upon this singular room in the seemingly secure bunker, they would lay their eyes upon a gruesome and grisly scene. The body of the canine staff member that has been manning the now awakened consoles controls lay slumped over the typing face, a large plasma produced gouge cutting through his chest. The blood that had not cauterized now dried all upon the smooth controls. Spread out around the remainder of the room was the evidence of an intense battle. The bodies of five Lylatian marines lay mangled all throughout the clutter of the dispersed papers and wrecked computers. Twelve other bodies were mixed in as well, all high ranking CDF military personnel. The bunker door seemingly melted and blasted off its large titanium hinges.

The console continued to blink on in ignorance of the situation. As the low rumble of explosions and raging war could be heard reverberating through the roof of the barely lighted room.

*****Four Months Later*****

"Fox… What the fuck is going on…?"

"You heard the general Falco, the expanse is under attack... Most of the Armedes sector is under enemy control now and there's threat of them breaching into the Canton Sector as well."

The Vulpine and the Avian stood nearly silent on the bridge of their dreadnought class ship, letting that sudden realization sink in. All other conflicts had focused on Lylat. Maybe one other system would be pulled in and that was usually Tarn, just due to the military presence. But now… now an entire sector of the expanse had fallen, with murmurs that another was under threat as well. These murmurs spreading from travelers who claimed that their security escorts just suddenly went silent and disappeared from scans. Others from "survivors" of unknown hit squads that would raid populated areas in the middle of the night. None of it could be validated though without personally travelling near hundreds of light-years to investigate. The only attacks being acknowledged were the two fallen systems of the Armedes Sector.

News reports still rolled in, rehashing old footage and showing new that had just arrived on subspace uplinks. Entire cities in total ruin, smoldering ash and soot clouded the skies. High resolution news drones that managed to dodge enemy anti air edging through the cityscapes, the shadows of defenseless civilians burned into sidewalks and walls from the nuclear blasts the enemy had so widely used.

The middle aged Vulpine just sat in his command chair and looked out the view port at the surface of Corneria, frowning a bit as he thought more into the situation at hand. He and his team had just gotten the Great Fox II less than three months ago and were already being requested to go support an increased security posture in the Litus system.

"So they paying us to go sit back and be on vacation for a bit?" Falco chuckled a bit as he relaxed into his flight deck seat, trying to make some sort of light of the situation like he normally does.

Fox managed a light smile and leaned back into his seat a bit after he punched a few keys on his seat side command computer, "I certainly hope so. We've still got boat loads of credits left over from the Aparoid conflict payout."

Falco nodded and nestled back into his seat, kicking his feet up on the nulled flight controls and watching the star specked space in front of them as the Great Fox turned to move in line with the Beltino Orbital Gate, him cueing up his in ship comms from his seat, "Slippy, Krystal, we've got a mission of sorts. Standby to jump through the warp gate, or come up to bridge."

Moments later the bridge door slid open, exposing a lovely blue vixen clad in just her spandex shorts and a workout tee shirt, "Hey guys, you pulled me outta the gym haha." She let out a light giggle and flopped into her flight seat on the far port side of the bridge, Foxes eyes unconsciously following her shapely rump, tail and legs before he caught himself and glanced down to his lap, realizing that he was dressed in his casual clothes as well, just not as casual as a certain vixen.

"At least you have a decent excuse Krys, was about to say is it casual Monday or some shit?" All three on the bridge shared a chuckle as they watched the speck of the orbital gate slowly materialize into a broad metallic visage that ate up the whole of the view port.

"So Krys, where's Slip?" Falco leaned over, about as lazily as he could, looking over at Krystal to ask his question.

The blue vixen turned her head to him and thought for a moment, remembering she'd passed him on the way to the bridge, "Ah, he said he's gonna hunker down and tinker with a new comm pad during the jump."

Fox and Falco nodded at this, Fox punching in a series of data lines to his keypad, getting a chirped response from the other end of the transmission, signifying that they were cleared to enter the queue for using the warp gate, the large dreadnought maneuvering smoothly and silently in line with two other carrier class and seven heavy battlecruiser class ships, all carrying different emblems than the CGC or CDF, or even the Lylatian Federation for that matter. Fox simply chalked it up to the Litus local government notoriously not liking an active military presence.

His tail flicked a bit as he realized he didn't recognize any of the ships emblems, his brow furrowing a bit as he hoped he wouldn't have to watch his own back out in Litus if something kicked off from this conflict.

He was pulled from his reverie and thoughts as the view screen lit up with the familiar green glow of the warp gate, the chirp of an incoming hailing chiming over the bridge, Fox activating it and a hologram popping up with the head of a middle aged looking German Shepherd, her giving a soft smile before re-announcing the order for entry to the warp gate, the Great Fox sitting at sixth ship in the stack through the gate.

As they pressed through the rippling shimmering green warp hole that would take them to the Litus System, Fox hoped to himself that there would be none of this new foe for a while. Not that he was against the fighting. He and his team were just blatantly tired. Yes it'd been a year and some change since the Aparoid conflict, but they'd been run ragged during that entire mess. He just wanted them to be able to rest awhile longer and actually enjoy some of the credits they'd accrued prior to jumping right back into another fight.

He drew his eyes back up to the viewport, watching as the very tip of the Great Fox's nose tapped into the gate, seeming to stretch on before him as the rest of the massive ship flowed in right after. The shimmers and glows of slipspace surrounding them as Krystal, Fox and Falco took in the pleasant sights of being dragged through deep space at faster than light speeds.

After the ship had stabilized in its initial shift into warp speeds, Fox heaved himself up out of his seat and stretched, his back popping slightly as he yawned, his faded denim jeans and grey tee shirt resting comfortably on his form as he turned to walk back toward his quarters, "Hey ROB, you have the helm."

The familiar bot gave his monotone, "Affirmative." And Fox nodded, heading off to get some sleep. They had a two week journey after all.

*****Three Months Later*****

/: Log Book Open/Date: 12.09.15ALW/Single Entry/

By the order of Commanding General Pepper,

All military funded research and support to extraneous systems shall cease and desist immediately with military assets reassigned to supporting conflict zones throughout the Armedes Sector. Get well date for this directive is the end of 12.11.01 ALW. Reassignment paperwork will follow.

If this directive pertains to unit(s) under your command, prioritize combat capability on attached documents and submit reassignment paperwork to CDFHQ Lylat to receive tasking's for updated billet assignment. All unit(s) notified immediately report to Tarn System and proceed to SD-SBDD-02 in orbit around CDF-OP Charlie for jump gate assistance to your assigned unit. If not assigned by 12.11.05 ALW, report to the 18th Ready Reserve Force Fleet holding in orbit at CDF-OP Bravo.

Failure to comply with this directive will result in termination of position and duty title, to include but not limited to reduction of rank, ejection of career, and/or charges of treason under court martial.

Private funded research ventures to extraneous systems may continue at the behest of funding parties.

/:Log Close/Priority Status: Medium/Transmit CGCHQ LYLAT ALL STATIONS, ALL SYSTEMS/DTS: 12.09.15-0714USTALW/


	5. Chapter 4: Semblance Pt I

**Authors Note:** Alright kiddos. You want direct input into my story? More so than reviews? Well here's a fluffy little ball of happiness for you (mainly nerd types).

I need planets… I need vessels… I need created data points. All on the level of real data. So no magic. No dimension altering stuff. Nothing that would not make sense in the real world in terms of data for what I ask. If you're interested in doing this, PM me with what you'd like to work on and I'll send back the planet/vessel/etc data that I have that I'd like you to work on. I'll also have a list of parameters that vessels must fall within for the class that you wish to work on. Please don't be sad/butt-hurt if you work on a planet or vessel or anything and I don't use exactly what you make up, or at all. If I do use your created data, I will give you special mention in authors' notes for the chapter I use your data in (if I remember, but I'm usually pretty good at doing that). If you do a damn fine job and I'm impressed with what you provide, I may return and ask you to do more, if you so wish. This is freelance work, so I won't press deadlines, I won't nag, I won't be pissed if I don't get anything back. However, do not be upset with me if by the time you return with data, I respond saying I've already built my own data set for the project I assigned you. The story has to keep flowing with my timelines, but I won't hold free work to that.

All in all, I thought this would be a great way for people to have a vested interest in the story (and to keep my lazy ass on track). Thanks for all the awesome feedback thus far, I platonically love you kiddos.

Keep it up!

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Semblance Pt. I**

 **12.12.04-1800UST ALW**

 **Cornerian Defense Forces HQ**

 **ID +408**

General George Pepper sat at his expansive wooden desk, chin resting in his paw as he leaned over in thought, his brow furrowed a bit as he reached out and pulled a hand size data pad to him, pouring over the screen, scrolling through the data idly. He let out a sigh as his gaze carried to the three computer monitors in front of him, the far left screen a video feed from a _Cerberus Class_ recon drone over the surface of Hurion in the Serus System, the drones sensors and cameras showing vast destruction of the planets numerous cities, the once far reaching expanse of broken skyline now columned by smoke and speckled with ash. Sensors indicating huge quantities of airborne radiation tracking over the planets second largest continent, slight fleeting pocks of light in the distance indicating an aerial battle some number of standard units away. The drones camera panned slowly off to its port side, surveying the lay of a long mountain range, the locations of two Lylatian military bases signified by tall pillars of gray smoke, lit up every few minutes by the intense bluish-white and then orange flash of plasma storage pods, munitions batteries or fuel cells cooking off. As the forward camera panned to its furthest portside limit, the aft port camera picked up the feed, shifting the image slightly yet still looking over the same area, panning silently and near ominously. The rage of a much closer dog fight could be seen in the high resolution feed; the dancing aircraft close enough for the random glinting of the setting suns light to be seen off the wings and bodies of the crafts. The silent display continued until, without warning, the entirety of the drones feed transitioned to pure white, the camera blanking out to protect its digital "eye" before slowly feeding back in from nothing, the incredible view of a towering mushroom cloud dominating the feed over the mountain scape, the air through the cameras view nearly glowing from the grossly overpowered enemy weapon.

Pepper sighed deeply at the sight. The Lylat wars had hardened him, perhaps a bit too much he thought to himself as he glanced over to the small framed picture of he and his late wife standing on an Aquas beachfront. He shook his head a bit and looked over the center computer screen, squinting his eyes a bit as he looked over the data laid out on it. He was never one for technology, preferring the "old ways" in which paper reports were the norm. This conflict though moved too fast for paper, him having to learn to love the computer feeds and data pads over his usual binder reports. The screen displayed all sorts of combat data as bland facts, the bits and bytes on the screen never able to comprehend the remote gravity of what they displayed. Casualty counts, military and civilian alike. Combat equipment losses, Fleet & Ship losses, and units out of contact, supporting fleet elements and their destinations or holding areas. Systems throughout the expanse labeled in red and yellow for combat capability, losses or even combat readiness. And lastly, the status of one small backwater planet at the edge of the expanse, a small smile appearing on his muzzle as he read over its data, a nearly two decade old promise still being held as all its data showed in a seemingly cheerful green. Green simply due to the sole fact that this small backwater planet was nearly one hundred and fifty light years from the nearest enemy vessel and thus far his forces and the vast spread of the expanse had kept it that way.

Pepper turned his attention to the third screen, the crux of the entire conflict so it seemed sat on this screen in terms of mathematical calculations… the shear cost. Credits upon credits upon credits. Billions had been spent during and donated after the Aparoid Conflict, and that conflict had eaten up all of eight months. This conflict was only six months older at this stage and was nearing the cost of one trillion credits.

He rubbed his temples and groaned quietly as he poured over the data, Space Dynamics and Dax Heavy Production Corporation had just put in bids for beginning work on a new fleet as well as replacing the lost vessels in Tantalos and Serus. The bids were both competitive yet the easy choice was Dax Heavy Production due to the shear production capability. Pepper inserted his digital signature into the document and closed it out, forwarding the document to the acquisitions department of the CGC.

He watched his screen tabulate and sighed softly as the system automatically transferred just shy of seventy seven billion credits out to acquisitions from the primary CGC account for work to begin on the new fleet.

The sixty one year old hound leaned back in his chair, resting his tired paws on his lap and closing his weary eyes for a moment. His breathing soft and deep as he regarded the past few months. Him having been on the way out the door to retire from the CDF. His replacement a bright fleet admiral on a security patrol with his fleet in the Tantalos System on Invasion Day over a year ago. His fleet overwhelmed and underpowered by the invading foe. Peppers thoughts sat upon how his younger counterpart handled the situation. He'd read the raw, faceless facts of the battle. The words and figures devoid of emotion, the element of humanity lost in translation from life to bits and bytes. His mind dwelled on how that fleet admiral, CDF Commander-to-be responded; the command to push the 7th Heavy Fleet to the front line of a much larger force in order to allow the 4th and 8th fleets a window of opportunity to secure a defensive line. How that young admiral's mind must have been torn against jumping his fleet to safety versus tipping the balance of the fledgling war a bit in favor of the billions of innocents in the system. The commander-to-be had been awarded the CGC Medal of Valor, the highest honor for the Cornerian military forces, but it simply was not enough in the old Generals eyes. He'd personally worked with this commander, his own recommendation letters submitted to the Cornerian Governing Council for this man to be promoted to CDF Commander. He let out a soft sigh and opened his eyes, promising himself that he'd never forget Fleet Admiral Jackson Marcelot, the retrievers' semblance, persona and character burned into the hounds mind.

His reverie was broken by his desk communicator beeping and drawing his attention, the calm voice of his secretary sounding over the speaker, "General Pepper, the gentlemen for your evening appointment are here. They've brought the presentation on protecting the extraneous systems you requested."

He looks over his desk and gathered his data pad to go to the conference room, him hitting the reply key on the desk communicator, "Sounds good Ms. Lane, I'll be heading that way now."

With that, the tall hound walked himself from his office, giving his feline secretary a soft smile before turning to enter the conference room, quietly shutting the door behind him for his meeting with some of the best and brightest in Lylat.

* * *

 **30 September 2013, 0241 Local Time**

 **SE-Sierra Charlie-A43**

 **Operation** **[NAME CLASSIFIED]**

"CONTACT! LEFT SIDE! TEN O'CLOCK, ONE HUNDRED FIFTY METERS!" The call was immediately drowned out by ungodly volumes of automatic weapons fire. My squads fire teams taking center opposition to the threat, dumping high velocity lead toward the enemy position. None of us had slept in at least twenty hours, many of us more than that. The fatigue was a nuisance however; the threat of our position being overrun by a highly competent, very brutal force was forefront on everyone's mind as weapons all around me reverberated their same chaotic song, the flow and efficiency of our movements a highly practiced dance.

"PEEL LEFT! PEEL LEFT!" My team went into moving flawlessly, a well-oiled fighting machine as our rifles chattered and suppressed the advancing enemy forces, us moving laterally to more substantial cover to regroup with the remainder of the task force.

"Kilo 1-6! This is Kilo 1-1! We're coming in from your west side, bolstering your flank! Lift fire!"

"Kilo 1-1! Copy that, you're clear on west flank of first!"

Like water into a vessel, my squad filled the weak open flank and our heated rifles joined the chorus of outgoing lead and chaos from first platoons' defense.

"COVER! Need a mag!"

"On your left Hart!" I glanced over as my team leader remained firing with his dominant arm, his left retrieving a fresh magazine from his kit and tossing it to the youngest man in our squad with only the slightest break in his stream of fire, him slapping home the new supply of gifts-for-the-enemy and resuming firing.

My attention was only drawn for two seconds or so as I re-engaged the threats surrounding us.

* * *

 **29 September 2013, 23 Hours Earlier**

 **Somewhere ~50NM Southwest of SE-Sierra Charlie-A43, 21,000ft AGL**

 **Operation** **[NAME CLASSIFIED]**

We sat along the bench rows of the C-17 aircraft, our task force of seventy eight troops resting as we awaited the time over target warning for our drop into enemy territory. Our objective to take a munitions factory being manned by insurgent forces and providing most of their northern territories with small arms ammunition and explosives.

My eyes were closed and to an outside observer, I likely looked to be sleeping. My mind was abuzz however with the details of our mission brief several hours ago.

" _Gentlemen, you'll be HAHO dropping nearly forty miles to the southwest of a heavily controlled enemy territory under the cover of darkness to retake and destroy all air defense around an insurgent munitions factory in Alpha Forty Three. You'll be alone for the next forty eight hours. No communications. No air support. No supply drops. Enemy forces have been triangulating unit positions via long distance comms and airdrops. Bear in mind those facts during your mission. Enemy air defense is far too saturated for assets to break through the layered defenses they have. Your leadership has the remainder of the mission data. Expect light resistance within the area of the drop zone. Very heavy resistance within the factory complex. Break out into your mission planning teams. Be prepped for airlift at 2300hrs."_

My thoughts were broken as the voice of the loadmaster came over the inter-plane comms, "TWO MINUTES TO DROP!"

The sounding of the notice woke most everyone, the remainder of the personnel being awoken by their comrades alongside them. If that didn't wake them, then the sound of coursing air certainly did as the ramp lowered to configure for drop. Everyone affixing their HAHO oxygen masks to their faces, buddies helping buddies with the attachments to helmet and kit points.

"ONE MINUTE TO DROP! PORT SIDE STAND!" My side of the aircraft stood with all our kit attached to us. Bare essentials of just food, water and ammunition loaded into our packs as the subsequent command for the starboard side sounded, the associated personnel standing as the hue of the red light at the ramp glowed on our faces and equipment.

"THIRTY SECONDS TO DROP! FINAL CHECKS! IR BEACONS ON!"

The final sounding of our pre-drop warnings sent chills up my spine, even at the cold altitude sweat beaded on my brow. The intensity of the fighting to come would not be anything to trifle with. I'd never been told to draw over nine hundred rounds of ammunition from the armory for a mission before, and simple numerical fact meant that the Intel analysts and mission planners at headquarters expected us to be chest deep in shit at a full sprint. It also solidified the fact that we would be utterly alone.

Under my NVG's, the telltale steady blink of each man's IR beacon on their back, left shoulder and helmet somehow calming my nerves. My eyes were on the loadmaster as he turned back to face us; hand in the air, fingers splayed. The successive lowering of each finger seemed to be in slow motion before his hand closed in a fist and the red light switched off, immediately replaced by a brilliant green glow in its place.

Instinct set in, the first row immediately filtering out and off the ramp of the aircraft, the second, third, fourth and fifth following suit. The cycle continued with efficiency and practiced fluidity until the twentieth row had stepped off the ramp into a free fall through a cloudless sky, the quarter moon barely lighting anything except the first rows chutes that had opened and begun gliding to our landing zone, some backwoods farm little more than eight miles from our objective area.

As if following a reverse aerial domino pattern, I pulled my chute right as my altimeter blinked I had passed nineteen thousand feet, stabilizing and turning into following the slow, silent gliding trail pattern of steady IR beacons.

Our first segment to be a simple high altitude, high opening drop and subsequent glide over thirty three miles to our LZ. At which point we would stow our chutes and ruck the remaining eight miles to our LPOP and perform recon on the munitions factory for the next twenty four hour period before conducting our raid. By all measures, it was a nearly impossible mission, but that wasn't going to deter any of us. We lived for this. Craved it almost. Well, at least I do… I can't speak for all the other men. Our glide was slow and meandering, very little wind to disrupt our trajectories too. It was one of those calm nights that gave you the creeps by how calm it was. The lack of clouds and absence of wind. It was eerie as we floated through the darkness.

Finally, after approximately twenty or so minutes of gliding, the first of our guys touched down in the farm plot, silently melding with the ground it seemed as more and more of us filled in the available gaps forward, back and to the sides.

Once on the ground, all personnel were accounted for, silent headcounts performed and squads re-organized into original forms. All the while chutes being noiselessly bundled and stashed at a pre-determined location in mission planning to be picked up by friendly forces during the raid to try and draw attention away from our LPOP.

As we stashed our non-essential equipment and everyone moved onto a long staggered formation beginning our ruck march, I looked about under my NOD's at all the men before and behind me, thinking to myself that we were about to go bang on the gates of hell, as if almost to see what would happen.


	6. Chapter 5: Semblance Pt II

**Authors' Note: Thanks for the reviews and reading. I'm almost at 1k views. So keep it up guys, you're a great group of readers.**

 **Still waiting on any of yall to hit me up for work on the data sheet, if you want to take part in that ;) .**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Semblance Pt. II**

 **30 September 2013, 0334 Local Time**

 **SE-Sierra Charlie-A43**

 **Operation [NAME CLASSIFIED]**

The firefight had been raging for nearly an hour. Every fucking enemy insurgent in the area and his best friends, brothers, extended relatives and even third removed cousins pressed on our LPOP, the floor of the fighting trench my squad in being layered with spent shell casings, more added to it with each passing second.

We were the last element to be holding the LPOP while the remainder of Task Force Kilo fell back to our alternate defensive fighting position, the lovely sound of mortars whistling down and ending in a glorious _THUMP-BOOM!_ a mere two hundred meters to our twelve o'clock position, the white-gold, shrapnel laden explosive flare lighting up enemy troops with the successive blasts, the small sixty millimeter mortars detonating only a meter off the ground thanks to their M734 fuzes, avoiding impact into the explosion dampening mud and sand that so heavily constituted the terrain.

Through the rattle of weapons fire and intense adrenaline rush narrowing my attention to my enemies' silhouettes as three more brilliant explosions lit up their positions, my comm crackled to life, the gruff voice of our task force commander on the line, "Kilo 1-1! Fall back to bravo LPOP! Cover position and movement with smoke! You're cleared back to your six o'clock! Over!"

The succinct message was a relief like none other to me as I watched the mortar fire fan out toward the enemies' flanks, reigning them back in from their own flanks, boxing them into the mortar kill zone as high explosive rounds wracked the area, shredding trees and breaking bodies into pulp against the muck.

My voice was hoarse, the combination of lack of sleep and sheer adrenaline wearing on it as I called out, "1-1! Center peel toward bravo to the six o'clock! Smokes out!"

With that, I pulled my white smoke grenade from my kit and ripped the pull-ring out, leaning up to toss it, right as the device left my gloved hand a strafing of two seven-point-six-two-by-thirty-nine rounds throwing me to my ass back in the trench, me heaving breath as my armor had slammed back against my chest.

" _Fucking cunts! Oowww…!"_ was my thought as I slipped a hand in behind my front plate to see if there was penetration, luckily not. Just some badass bruising to deal with. Looking back up to the fight, I raised my rifle and rejoined fire with my squad as two more smoke grenades spiraled out from our position, clouding the area in front of us with thick grey rolling blobs of smoke filling the space between us and the enemy, regardless of that though, the same intense volume of fire continue.

"Peel Center! Move!"

My guys followed through with the order and began filing back two by two, running and keeping their heads down, turning back and re-engaging the enemy through the smoke so the next two men could run up between them and take up position to their rear, the arduous combat ridden reverse leap frog game to continue for another half a kilometer. The flash and flare of rifles and mortars leaving bravo LPOP a welcome sight.

The comm crackling back to life as we ran and returned fire, "Kilo 1-6 to any station, respond! I say again, Kilo 1-6 to any station, respond! We have a broken arrow! I say again, broken arrow!"

The call sent chills down my spine as I fired to cover my men as they in turn fired to cover myself and my element. The chaos of the battle hadn't allowed me to get a full idea on how fucked we were. I knew my squad was down three men, the ammo having been stripped from their kits and used during the fight from the trench we were now retreating from. That was three dead out of thirteen I had in my squad. And two others wounded; Hart and Keller, both taking a round to the left arm and right thigh respectively. Them still pushing along like fucking champs as we fell back, Hart firing his rifle with his good arm.

That snapshot of my squad did not represent the overview of the whole task force though. Broken Arrow was a call reserved for units that were suffering heavy casualties, usually _forty percent_ or more. That translated to us having very few men left in the fight from the force that we had started as.

There was a long pause, punctuated by cacophonous weapons fire and the last mortar in our inventory falling on the enemy position. The pause was mind destroying almost, there was only static filled with silence on the comms channels.

"Kilo 1-6 to any station, respond! I say again, Kilo 1-6 to any station, respond! We have a broken arrow! I say again, broken arrow!"

The second call seemed to make mine and my men's hearts sink a bit more as angry orange-red tracers flew within inches of our bodies, the heat from the searing projectiles warming us briefly as they passed so close, my alpha team leader, Henry Gerret, crying out in gurgled pain as a tracer passed through his upper chest, him dropping back and coughing up blood, trying to sit back up to still fire.

The situation was slow motion, gunfire, explosions and the voices of men yelling commands and pained responses fading out, my body and mind on autopilot as I seemingly came to from some sort of blackout, catching myself sliding into firing position on both knees next to my team leader, systematically clicking off rounds from my rifle, the barrel creating a heat haze through the line of sight I had through my optic in the cool fall air.

"…-6…s Warpig Three One and Warp… What…ocation?! Ove…" The call was a hope building sign that we weren't truly alone. That there may be some hope for this hopeless situation.

"Warpig three one! This is Kilo 1-6! We are at grid Delta niner zero niner by three seven niner! Kill-box Sierra Charlie! A43 munitions factory! You're cleared hot to the southwest of our position! Enemy marked by india romeo smoke! Over!"

"Copy all 1-6! Time to target – less than one minute! Over!"

"Copy Warpig! Fly november oscar echo profile! Alpha delta still heavy in area! Over!"

"Roger that 1-6. Mark your position with india romeo strobes."

At that radio call, I pulled two smoke grenades from my kit and sequentially tore the pins from the firing fuze, throwing them both and calling out to my guys, "Fucking run!"

My men broke our loose center peel formation and subsequently broke into an all-out sprint towards bravo LPOP, myself and Campbell drag/carrying our mortally wounded team leader. After an arduous forty seconds, we finally crossed the perimeter of bravo, as gently as possible, yet still unceremoniously, dropping off our dying team leader for the medic to work on, immediately taking up our position back on the line, the whine of jet engines coming into ear-shot.

No sooner than I had flicked the safety to 'off' and began to squeeze my rifles trigger, an A-10 passed right over our heads, its gun singing the tremendously awesome _"bbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrttttttttttttttttttt"_ that is synonymous with the savior of ground forces, the thirty millimeter high explosive rounds ripping through tree trunks, the ground and the insurgents fragile bodies, the subsequent and rapidly escaping trail of exploding impact sites a testament to how much firepower these aircraft possessed. The A-10 that had just suppressed our enemies screaming over their position, red tracers passing up and behind the fast mover as that A-10, Warpig 31, pulled up and off to his port, escaping his target end point to come around for another run. The lone JTAC assigned to our task force on the radio with two charts unfolded out in front of him just behind me on the line.

Right as soon as Warpig 31 made his escape from the exit point of his vector, the second A-10, Warpig 32, came screaming over our position and unleashed the same volume of hate and rage, however also adding in two lovely five-hundred-pound JDAMS right over the enemy position, pulling up and to the starboard side right upon release, the impact only a second later with dual wondrous _FLASH-WHUMPH-BOOMs_ thundering over and lighting up the entire area, the trees in front of us silhouetted by the huge high explosive induced blasts.

As Warpig 32 peeled off from his exit point and '31 came back around to strafe along the lateral line of enemy troops on bearing three-zero-seven, our task force commander decided to take advantage of the break in the enemy line, pressing our attack.

3rd squad, Bravo fire team stayed behind to protect the wounded as the command for the rest of us to press our attack came down. Everyone sleep deprived, hungry, worn thin and adrenaline drained… but most of all, utterly angry at the enemy. And that was all we'd needed.

We pushed on line, withering weapons fire cutting down enemy troops fleeing from the supporting aircrafts onslaught as we made it our one and only goal to push straight through the entire enemy ground to the factory complex.

A bright flash from my upper left field of vision caught my attention, Warpig 32 popping a string of flares as the grey-white streak of a missile closed in on his aircraft.

* * *

 **30 September 2013, 0349 Local Time**

 **Directly Over SE-Sierra Charlie-A43**

 **Operation [NAME CLASSIFIED]**

The pilot of Warpig 32 came off his second pass of the battle zone, his munitions counter reading 31% remaining load of thirty millimeter ammunition and two JDAMS underwing, his fuel gauge displaying '5,380 LBS.'

Pleased with all this, he banked to his port side and pulled back on his flight controls, escaping his exit vector from his gun route, all the sudden his on-board missile warning system blaring an incoming missile declaration, him responding immediately out of trained muscle memory, flares immediately exiting his aft as his jinked right and popped chaff, the missile flaring past his tail at mach six. Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the tag-line for another missile blared over his in cockpit warning system, him pulling up and popping another load of chaff and flares before pulling hard off to his left, his aircraft shuddering violently as the missile's own turbulence bounded against his crafts fuselage during the high-gee maneuver.

His breathing was labored, trying to keep the gee forces down on his body, the stresses making his eyesight blur slightly before he tapered out of his pass and pushed his throttle to full in order to get to his next initial point for his third gun run. The adrenaline making his ears ring slight, him being fatigued and worn down from his long mission. Perhaps it was a combination of things. His fatigue, the previous two missile evasions, his intense focus as a young brand new pilot on supporting the men on the ground. Or perhaps it was the fact that his flight computer failed to pair the third missiles incoming signature as a threat, a fluke in the programming marking the flare of the missile as nondescript background clutter.

The large nearly telephone pole size missile sheared through the aft end of his fuselage, passing through the opposite side and detonating in a brilliant bloom of destruction. The expanding steel frame warhead shredding the titanium aircraft in the midst of the explosion.

* * *

 **30 September 2013, 0355 Local Time**

 **Directly Over SE-Sierra Charlie-A43**

 **Operation [NAME CLASSIFIED]**

The explosion above our heads several minutes ago had lit up the trees and sky, all of us knowing what had occurred and using it as further fuel to press on our objective. The tree line was breaking and giving way to an open field, the factory sitting four hundred meters across open unprotected ground in the midst of the field, the missile launcher with three empty rails and a single missile left still sitting there, mocking us as we pressed closer, ammunition being expended at an incredible rate as insurgents fell to our onslaught. Warpig 31 came screaming in from our right side and strafed the block of insurgents on the side closest to us, a mix of high explosive and depleted uranium rounds ripping through the SAM system and the missile left on the rail detonating in a flurry of flame and smoke, the A-10 left on station bearing off to his left and pulling a high-gee turn against the intense blast of the missile explosion, seemingly slinging his last two JDAMS into the side of the munitions factory, the external lighting from the factory showing the two five hundred pound projectiles punching through the concrete and thin sheet metal wall, penetrating into the west wing of the factory block and detonating, that entire cordon of factory structure popping in a glaring show of fiery explosions, subsets of munitions material detonating in second and third order explosions.

The remainder of task force kilo poured through the perimeter all along the western portion of the factory complex, sweeping through the concrete, steel and dirt outlays, pushing the enemy from their stronghold one fatigued, painstaking, arduous, yet utterly determined step at a time.

* * *

 **13.02.08-0009UST ALW**

 **Serus System, Kal Attar, LZ Yankee**

 **Operation Hopeful Reclamation**

 **ID +472**

" _The war within, the war without… it matters not where the war lies, what matters is the character of the men in that war and what they will do for their brethren alongside them. The character in their hearts that binds their minds to the right and moral thing to do. The lengths those very men will go to in order to abruptly halt evil as it attempts its tendrilous spread into the ways of life that our innocent citizens enjoy. It is these men… these very few and hardened good men that stand against the darkness, embracing their own torment to keep us all safe. I wish to be one of those men alongside every one of you today."_ – Commander Harvey Solomon, CDF Fleet Commander, Lylat Wars

The assault craft carrying the two squads of troops shook violently as it passed through the upper atmosphere, the young man looking over to his left and looking over his squad mates on the starboard side of the craft. He was young yet already experienced in the ways of war, or at least the losses. The young vulpine looked back ahead of him, peering across the hood of the LGA/RV-19 at his counterpart from Charlie squad, the older dark gray lupine looking back through his visor and giving the twenty four year old vulpine a reassuring nod. Looking down to his own body, the vulpine did a mental check of his equipment and weapons, his Mk. 8 blaster rifle strapped across his chest with six extra gas canisters attached to his belt rig. His lightweight Class III personnel assault armor comfortably snugged to his body, the composite titanium ceramic plates a flat od green with camouflage pattern lightly overlaid. As the craft shook violently once more, the pilots' voice came over the intercom in the vessel, "Troopers! Intel reports are showing that we will be putting down in a hot LZ! Squad leaders prep for a combat offload!"

The vulpine gulped in nervousness, his heart racing behind the one point three centimeter thick armor plating on his chest, his helmets' visor HUD clicking on as the squad leaders linked data systems to their men.

"Alpha squad! We're dropping at LZ Yankee above objective area sigma! Rally point is at DFB Westlake! Sound off!"

A reverberating "HURA SQUAD LEADER!"

A series of simplistic data points appeared on the vulpines' visor as the dropship approached the surface of the planet below them, him looking out the small viewport next to him and peering through the white clouds pocked by plasma and laser bursts from the enemies air defenses, their ground support fighter element pushing ahead at high speed, their aircraft hulls still dully aglow from atmo-entry.

As the heavy laden dropship neared the surface of the planet, the creaking and straining of the frame was more pronounced as the pilot evaded incoming air defense fire from the flak fields, the darkness of night luckily shielding their primary entry.

The vulpines breathing increased as the tell-tale shudder of a plasma bolt slamming into the crafts hull was heard, he looked back across to his lupine counterpart and noticed the tall wolf had his eyes closed calmly, likely praying to the gods. The silver furred vulpine tried to steady his breathing, thinking back to the quote his mind had been stuck on prior to atmo-entry. The voice of the man from the holo-vid still playing fresh in his mind, "… _I wish to be one of those men alongside every one of you today."_

That one line played in his mind over and over as his breathing steadied; him pulled from his reverie as the pilot came back over the pa system, "Troopers! Really fucking hot LZ down there! Standby for combat drop! Ready gear and jump packs! SIXTY SECONDS!"

The cabin was abuzz with movement from each Marine as they did final checks to their equipment, weapons and their jump packs, everyone priming the fuel systems in their packs. The hum of the jump packs and shortly after the short whine and soft hum of weapons being charged filled the cabin before dying out to the steady shuddering of the hull and frame, the two LGA vehicles onboard shifting on their suspension slightly.

"THIRTY SECONDS! HOLD TIGHT GENTS!" The strain in the pilots voice was evident as the craft lurched and shuddered again, the fluid in everyone's stomachs and ear canals telling them they were pulling heavy gee's to their starboard side, the viewports glaring bright white momentarily, the light itself seeming to heat the inside of the cabin before fading back to the din of the night, light pocks of somewhat close and distant air defense flak able to be seen.

The vulpine clutched his rifle tightly in his gloved paws, his foot-paws tense in his thick combat boots. All the training in the world was nothing like the real deal he thought to himself. His light grey/blue eyes peered over to the cargo door of the craft, watching as it began to open, dropping fully as a ten second countdown populated on the right side of his visor HUD. The numbers ticking down in seemingly slow motion as the craft noticeably slowed down, at the three second mark, both LGA's disconnecting from their dropship clamps and rolling out of the back of the drop bay, retro rocket landing engaging before the trucks hit the ground. The vulpine steeled himself. He'd remembered this from training. The terrifying feeling of free fall, the suddenness of it. The first time he'd gone through it, he threw up all over himself. And then, it happened.

The floor under him dropped away, as it did for everyone and all thirty six troopers of alpha and Charlie squad dropped straight out of the bottom of the dropship, the vulpine breath hitching as he slipped from of the craft, his jump pack engaging seven meters off the ground and slowing his fall to the same rate as if he'd lightly hopped on his own feet back on Aquas.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, his HUD transitioned to night vision, scanning out over the area swiftly, his training took over and he took up a defensive position aiming outward of the group that had just landed.

He glanced up at the sky, there was a slight bit of cloud break and he watched as more of his resident fleets dropships broke through the atmosphere. If he strained his eyes a bit, he could see the flicker of space battles raging above the stratosphere.

He looked back down to his surroundings, scanning his head back and forth slowly. Their mission was straightforward, it being simple though… not so much; rendezvous with local military forces, bolstering and collaborating equipment reserves and press on the city of 'Autumns Hall,' retaking the major city one bloody block at a time.

The trucks that had previously been airdropped quietly drove up behind their position, the ground crunching underneath the large poly rubber tires.

Standing up silently, the vulpine moved to his rehearsed position to trail behind the two gun trucks as they slowly moved to their point of rendezvous.

The long battle to retake Kal Attar had just begun.


	7. Chapter 6: Semblance Pt III

**Authors Note:** Good day loyal readers! I am quite pleased with the feedback and overall responsiveness I've been getting from you guys and gals, I appreciate it greatly.

Hope you all enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Semblance Pt. III**

 **13.02.08-0511UST ALW**

 **Autumns Hall Outskirts, Kal Attar, Serus System**

 **ID +472**

The firefight had been raging for hours, the slim silver furred vulpine taking cover behind the burnt out hulk of one of the ground assault vehicles they had brought with them. Their airdrop had gone smoothly, all personnel on the ground without incident and accounted for. The initial movement toward the city had been surprisingly uneventful, considering the turbulent entry their craft had experienced due to anti-aircraft fire from the planet surface. However, only one point standard units from the rendezvous point with the local militia and military forces, their unit met heavy, dug in resistance. Private Bylar had already expended an entire energy canister for his blaster rifle and was halfway through a second one. He looked over to his right and saw the squad medic working feverishly on one of their brother squads' fellow rifle-men, a large plasma impact having burned through his armor and carbonizing flesh and bone on his lower right thorax, the lupines labored breathing and immense pain in his face quite obvious. The vulpines heart was racing, his breathing quick as he turned back to the fight at hand, peering over the edge of the husk of a vehicle he was using for cover right as a strafing of plasma bolts slammed into the decrepit vehicles titanium plating mere inches from him, the heat washing over his hiding spot and dissipating quickly as the impact points on the vehicles slagged slightly from the immense energy. The vulpine shook his head slightly, picking up the fresh odor of burnt fur emanating from the side of his muzzle as he brushed away the singed patch of fur strands with his gloved left paw. Bringing his weapon up to bear, he leveled his optic sightline with the head of the enemy soldier manning the large anti-personnel automatic plasma cannon, firing a string of three bright blue energy bolts in swift succession, two of the three energy projectiles impacting the large individuals bared head and burrowing deep, him slumping backward into a pile of dead weight, the large tripod mounted plasma gun dropping forward and hanging limp, awaiting to be awoken again.

A wave of excitement washed over the young troopers mind as he watched the enemy soldier drop to the ground, him keying his mic and calling out over the squad channel, "THIS IS BYLAR! THE AUTO GUNNER IS DOWN!"

His call was cut short as an enemy fighter swiftly passed over their position merely ten meters off the ground, pursued by two extremely aggressive vipers, the _zoomp-sizzle_ sounding reports of their large anti-vehicle particle weapons breaking the typical sounds of the ground combat, if only for a brief instant.

Bylar tracked the fast movers with eyes wide in wonderment, his adrenaline pumping making the faster than sound vehicles seem as if they were moving along at a leisurely glide. Alas, he was pulled from the display of glamorous war by his comms cueing off in his ear, "Bylar, Euran! Press on that machine gun post and turn that bitch on its owners!" the gruff voice of their squad leader commanding them to move, the vulpines sore legs and body responding without thought as he looked over to his comrade, Corporal Euran, a lithe cougar about the same age as Bylar. He gave the feline a quick nod and stepped out from his cover at a full sprint up to a medium thickness tree, just barely wide enough to give him cover from oncoming fire, a hail of automatic blaster rifle fire trailing over his head in torrents from Eurans position as he slid into cover behind the tree, waving his feline squad mate up as he raised his rifle and began firing in the same voluminous manner to cover his comrades movement, the flow of blue energy pulses streaming toward the enemy position, greenish white and yellow pulses returning from the enemy forces position as both sides exchanged heated energy bolts. Behind him, Bylars squad was busy picking off any enemy troops that were dumb enough to expose themselves while firing at Euran and Bylar.

Euran slammed himself against the tree trunk next to his vulpine friend, taking cover and giving the vulpine the signal to press forward again, them a mere fifty meters from the machine gun nest, bolts of intense heated energy whizzing by, making the air crackle and sizzle as the vulpines fur stood on end from the static of the bolts flying past. His breathing was fast and excited, yet his training kept him calm as his adrenaline coursed through his veins, heightening his already burning senses. Heaving himself over the tree trunk next to the large live trunk he'd hid himself behind, the young trooper sprinted toward the vacant machine gun nest, rifle swinging side to side across his body in his arms as a counterbalance, the soft dirt and charred vegetation kicking up under his booted foot-paws as he closed the distance, fatigued thigh muscles burning in exertion as every fiber of his being pushed toward that machine gun.

* * *

 **30 September 2013, 0414 Local Time**

 **Munitions Factory, SE-Sierra Charlie-A43**

 **Operation [NAME CLASSIFIED]**

Room after room after intensely defended room had been cleared. The factory was in shambles and burning from the two five-hundred pound JDAMs that had so efficiently pounded into the factory wall. We pressed through in fire teams, raiding the factory like violent well trained children in a candy store, the cacophony of gunfire echoing down long corridors and vast open concrete parking aprons. I watched through my weapon optic as my men moved up to a door, emplacing a breaching strip before retreating back to safe distance. We were stacked, ready and poised to kill, thumbs tense on our weapons safeties and trigger fingers poised to make the half inch journey to the kill switch. There was a bright flash and a torrent of sound as the steel door became tissue paper under the blast, flying inward in a blur of spark, flame and shrapnel. That was our cue, like race-horses out of the gate at the sound of the starter pistol, the first man was chasing the door into the room, his weapon brought to bear and scanning his sector as he button-hooked into the room, triple reports of three-round-burst fire chattering from within the room as the second man flowed in and took the opposing entryway, rounds from his rifle exclaiming their freedom with the intense blast and flash from the muzzle of the rifle, searing lead and copper projectiles screaming through their target before he could bring his rifle up in response. The rest of us filtered into the room like water into a vessel, taking up our posts and instinctively re-stacking on the interior door to repeat the dangerous dance again. The both dull and clear sounding _tat-tat-tat_ and _thump_ of automatic weapons and grenades detonating through the walls of the factory could be heard as we pressed deeper into our objective.

Elsewhere in the factory, our brethren were moving through their objective areas just as easily, cutting down enemy forces with a mixture of hate, rage and the calculated application of lead poisoning, moving over and around the fallen bodies just as a brook surrounds a stone.

Sweat dripped from my brow, saline laden droplets falling the six feet from my forehead to the cold unyielding concrete floor, seeming to mark where I'd been with an impermanent trail of effort laden proof of how far I'd come.

* * *

 **13.02.08-0724UST ALW**

 **Autumns Hall Outskirts, Kal Attar, Serus System**

 **ID +472**

The fight had raged for hours at this point, pushing finally into the city of Autumns Hall, going block to block, the bloody fight dragging out as militia, local ground forces and the marines from 17th MEFD pressing on the eastern border of the city, air support and artillery pounding against enemy positions that exposed themselves in the least. The _Safrum Class_ frigates in orbit busy tracking and eliminating enemy weapons tracks that fit the bill of possibly being orbital launched nuclear weapons. Flotillas of battlecruisers and missile cruisers ripping into the enemy vessels that approached the maximum engagement distance, creating a nearly living, amorphous flak barrier around the vast troop transports and precious carriers of the 12th MBF.

The vulpine trudged up the block, tired and aching all over, his comrade cougar on his tail watching his back as they pressed up to a forward secured post, taking up position with several other marines and militia, a radio-man next to them calling out professionally yet feverishly on the communications, the ocelots voice firm and commanding, "Fighter elements, cover the space port at grid five five one nine alpha by seven four seven zero! Friendly group elements pressing into space port, ETA two minutes. Artillery elements, draw fire off space port at same grid sector, you're putting shells onto the landing pads! All elements, I say again! …"

Private Bylar tuned out the ocelot corporal, peeking over the concrete barrier he'd taken cover behind and not seeing any enemy movement. The dull low rumbles and blasts of distant firefights scattered about the city-scape keeping the vulpine from relaxing fully as he sat watch silently, the early morning sun just now creeping over the horizon of Kal Attar, warming the cool night air slowly.

* * *

 **30 September 2013, 1356 Local Time**

 **~1 miles west, SE-Sierra Charlie-A43**

 **Operation [NAME CLASSIFIED]**

It was almost surreal, my body felt fake to me. I lifted my head up to see what was happening only to have it gently pushed back down to the hard floor of the medevac chopper, me tiredly looking up to the young medic tending to my wound on my abdomen. Regardless of his insisting I lay back, I lifted my head up again just in time to see the hulk of the munitions factory as two B-1 bombers passed over and rained down a stream of iron-clad explosives, them impacting and detonating all around and within the factory complex. The steel, concrete and munitions all being wrought into splinters of their former selves, shockwaves from the high explosive concussively and repeatedly blasting through the complex, ripping apart the former plant.

I let a small tired smile find its way onto my face as I laid back, closing my eyes as sleep finally found its way into my exhausted mind.


	8. Chapter 7: Glimmering

**Authors Note: Sorry for the delay in an update guys. Real world shit takes up my life on occasion. I appreciate the follows, reviews and likes though and will keep delivering in accordance.**

 **As always, please read and review. Keep me going…**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Glimmering**

" _The hope and faith of an entire race is so often held in the hands of the smallest section of their entirety. You are but a mere piece of that section of the race as a whole. When the time comes and situation demands that you fail… stand tall and push back. Be that line for the future generations." – Fleet Commander Adam Coreel, Lylat Wars_

 **13.02.13-2107UST ALW**

 **Serus System**

 **ID +477**

Quiet and still was the debris field, its slowly tumbling parts and bits scattered over fields of emptiness as vessels trudged through the spatial marsh of wreckage, twisted hulls and frozen bodies. The silence was pervasive… all-encompassing and consuming all semblance of noisy expression as vessels fired upon each other, flash and flare of beam, bullet and missile stretching between the expanses parting the massive naval structures. The scene was almost poetic as frigate combat units dodged through wrecked titanium superstructures and strafed alongside enemy cruisers and carriers, missiles and particle beams lashing out and blooming in glorious silver, white, golden and blue blooms against the dark hard skin of the foreign ships. Shields glimmered and flared against the blows as missiles crumpled and exploded. Titanium and alloy armor bubbled, flexed and blasted into fragments at impact strikes from directed energy weapons.

The visage was beautiful and horrible all at once. Silent death washed the dazzling spatial arena in a haze of frenzied regard.

Fleet Commander Harold Yilkin looked out from the command deck of his flagship carrier, _The Solemn_ and watched the battle play out over long range optical systems, destruction and rage and violence portrayed in the most intense of theatrics.

His fleet was new to this fight yet his experience in war was not. His hardened face supported his steely eyes as he watched the battle play out, looking to his right and reading over a data layout on a two meter tall, six meter wide holographic chart, and his expression softening into a frown.

"Captain Yilkin." Came the sounding of a proper, well-mannered voice, the late fifties aged captain turning to face the AI that had just drawn his attention. His eyes resting on the small one third meter tall form of the avian modeled AI.

"Yes Gella?" Asked the slim built, yet tall lupine captain, his eyes displaying curiosity at what the AI had to tell him.

"The twelfth main battle fleet is reporting losses of one carrier, three heavy cruisers and two frigate combat units. Remaining vessels are taking heavy combat losses with the fighter wings of the remaining carriers standing at 70% operational capability. Fighters from the lost carrier are reporting to remaining carriers and ground support elements planet-side. There is a high likelihood that one of the Kigimorra class transports may be lost as well as it has suffered catastrophic damage to decks 12-23 and several reactor conduits have been severed. What are your orders sir?"

His eyes set back onto the viewport as he weighed his options. Never in his experienced years as a pilot and commander in the Lylat Wars and Aparoid Conflict had he seen an enemy so dedicated. His fleet was poised and ready to engage. The entirety and rage that was the 37th Fleet Battle Group – Charlie stood at the ready at the furthest edge of the Serus system, awaiting his order.

He glanced down at his hand-paw and opened his palm, holding a small coin that he had been gifted as a younger officer during his days in the Lylat Wars. His thoughts trailed to what that old hound had said to him as he looked back at the view screen, the words within his own mind making him steel his body and inhale deeply as he turned back to the AI to his left.

"Gella, inform the fleet that we're pressing in on the lateral strong side of the twelfth fleet, ten standard units off the flagships' position. Inform our fleet to ready to battle condition one, we're engaging immediately after post jump stabilization. Battlecruisers target the enemy carriers and flagship, gut them. All frigate combat units support the battlecruisers and carriers. Missile carriers remain central formation and push torpedoes into the enemies' lines. Inform me when you have a jump solution Gella."

"Already done captain. On your order." The small avian hologram flickered softly as her processors disseminated the orders flawlessly to the remainder of the 37th Charlie detachment.

"Jump us in." his words were cool and commanding, slipping from his muzzle with ease and confidence.

* * *

 **13.02.13-2110UST ALW**

 **Orbital Defense Flotilla, Kal Attar, Serus System**

 **ID +477**

"Multiple jump end-state signatures. IFF pings sounding. Sir! The 37th Charlie jumped in!" the operator at the communications terminal exclaimed to his commander.

The lapin commander turned swiftly to his viewport, seeing the last of the 37th Charlie detachment jumping in, immediately an array of streaking blasts erupting from the faces of their battlecruisers, streaming toward the enemy fleet at the other extreme edge of the massive viewport. The hugely devastating PGRFRS-W Mod 2.1 projectiles slamming into and gutting through the enemy vessels they struck. The mere impacts eliciting massive explosions on the faces of the vessels armor as hull and substructure was crushed, devastating energy being unleashed and tearing massive holes through to the other side of the vessels.

"They brought the Terian class cruisers!" was the excited exclamation of another deck ensign at the sensors console.

Everyone watched on the command deck as the new fleet tore into the enemy scourge, three enemy cruisers buckling under the onslaught and detonating as their reactors breached and overloaded, one enemy carrier drifting dead now as it slowly rotated toward its port side, listing away from the conflict zone lazily as plumes of venting plasma raged from its starboard side.

Cheers went out over the badly stricken 12th fleet, morale boosting displays of raw firepower showing through all the viewports and camera arrays. The battle had tilted back in their favor finally.

The remainder of the 12th fleet adjusted their posture, reassuming their offensive along with the 37th Charlie, pushing back against the large enemy fleet and stripping through vessels with ease.

* * *

 **13.03.07-0140UST ALW**

 **Location Unknown, Kal Attar, Serus System**

 **ID +501**

His eyes could barely open, pain emanating from his entire body as he felt himself being lifted and carried, his vision fading in and out as his eyes tracked over the sky while he was carried front up on a litter. Visages of streaking fire in the upper atmosphere above him occurring every so often as he struggled to breath and faded from consciousness just as he saw the night sky blocked out by the metallic interior of a troop transport vehicle.

It was quiet when he awoke. He lay upon a cot in a rubble strewn concrete room. As he tried to sit up, a sharp pain shit through his chest and abdomen, forcing him to drop down to his back and wince out aloud, a young medical troop quickly rounding a corner and coming over to the old wolfs' aid.

"Sir, please try to lay still. Your ribs are broken." Came the words from the feline medic.

The wolf groaned in pain and aggravation as he looked up to the feline caretaker, the young man's uniform blotted with blood and sweat from his patients. The cats face awash with concern and care as the wolfs' eyes trailed down to the name plate on the soldiers polymer armor plating, 'Corporal Marcus Lanuk' printed out plainly in black military block lettering.

"Corporal Lanuk, how did I get down here? Where's my ship?" asked the lupine officer as the dull distant sounding of explosions and firefights racketed on, seeming to carry for many, many miles, yet likely only just around the block, more than likely less than a standard unit away.

"Sir, we got an indication from planet side sensor arrays that ships had entered the atmosphere and were breaking up, along with endless life pod signatures. My squad was sent to recover survivors from the wreckage in this area if there were any. You'd been in an escape pod for days by the time we found you sir." Was the grey coated felines' plain factual response, with somehow care and empathy laced into his words. The mark of a medic that had looked grown, strong men in the eye when they asked him if they were going to make it, and had to lie.

"How-aahhh...sssssssssss…. damn ribs… How many days Corporal?" he asked under a hiss getting his pained breath back under control in slow, shallow cycles.

"Sir, you've been out a total of four days. We've pumped you full of nano-meds to work on your ribs, but they were so badly broken I fear it'll take much longer than usual." The corporal replied as he retrieved a black canteen for the officer lying on the cot, giving the lupine captain the cool clear fluid. "Do you remember what happened sir? How you ended up planet side?"

The wolf took the canteen and sipped lightly, trying not to aggravate his own ribs again as he laid back.

"Well… we were doing well until…"

* * *

 **13.03.02-0619UST ALW**

 **Orbital Defense Flotilla, Kal Attar, Serus System**

 **ID +496**

"Captain, multiple enemy registered terminal jump signatures off our aft end, holding at roughly one hundred thousand SU's. Scanners picked up thirteen distinct signatures in total in loose formation, holding outside fine scan range." Was the simple statement from the AI aboard _The Solemn_ , Captain Yilkin considering her words as he looked over the holographic battle displays and readouts.

"Gella? What class is the enemy fleet that jumped in?" He requested as his hand-paw pondered at the chin of his muzzle, softly stroking light greying facial fur.

"Scanning still sir. Standby… Sir it registers as a Charlie Class Light Fleet, mostly frigates and two battlecruisers. Weapons threat considered to be low… wait sir… More signatures off our port side, eleven thousand standard units. Refining." The avian AI mused aloud as her subroutines ran through the scanners and sensor arrays aboard the carrier and supporting vessels.

"Gella?" The lupine asked inquisitively, ears perked as to her musings.

"Sir! An Alpha Class Heavy Fleet just jumped in off of our prow! Port side signatures register as an Alpha Class Light Fleet! Assuming battle station controls sir!" Her normal blueish purple holographic aura flashed into a deep red as the vessel transitioned to full combat ready at the proverbial flick of a switch, vast computations and calculations leaping forth from her subroutines like digital tendrils and executing her commands.

Alarms blared suddenly through the bridge and echoed along the ships corridors as an ensign turned swiftly to the commanders' attention and yelled out, "BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

The ensign was still standing from his station as he was calling out the warning, the subsequent moments sequencing in slow motion as the lupine deck commander swiftly reached out for his control console, his hand-paws seeming to travel at an immensely slow rate, merely grazing over the polished titanium supporting structure of all the control panels before his arms were forced to give way and his chest violently jolted forward and slammed into the computer bay, getting thrown over the front of it and abruptly strewn to the floor as Gella called out ship status and further relevant updates. The only 'relevant' thing to his brain being the currently shattered ribs in his chest as his vision glazed and he struggled to breathe.

Her words were faded and distant to him, sounding off something urgent about hull breaches and fires in vicinity of the starboard fighter fuel bays.

The ship shuddered and shook under his partially conscious form, him groaning yet not able to even hear himself do so as his ears rung and filled with the sounds of alarms blaring and the other deck officers shouting status and orders to each other as he began to feel lighter. He coughed to the feeling of great pain shooting through his chest and abdomen, the taste of his own blood thick on his tongue and throat. His faded vision and slowly drifting consciousness allowed him to register the sensation that the gravity generators had failed, multiple sharp and violent shudders reverberating through the command carrier as the ear piercing screech of metals being ripped free of their placements. He panicked internally as he began to drift up from the deck plating, the slow movement about him seeming impossible as he finally faded out from consciousness.

* * *

 **13.03.02-0621UST ALW**

 **Orbital Defense Flotilla, Kal Attar, Serus System**

 **ID +496**

"I DON'T CARE THAT YOU CANT GET A CLEAN TARGETING SOLUTION TREA! FIRE ON THAT VESSEL!" The striped feline commander bellowed out as his hand-paws tightly gripped the console of his flight deck computer bay, watching the feed as an enemy Type 12 Combat Cruiser rammed _The Solemn_ from the port side, slamming through half the vessel and causing the halves to pinch toward one another and buckle at the weakened point. The AI aboard _Coopers Nexus_ , Trea, swiftly analyzing the cleanest targeting solutions for the remainder of the battlecruiser element and passing off the pathways for the engagement. Seconds later, the silent reports of four Terian Class vessels main weapons streaked out across the short distance, lashing into the enemy vessel and punching through the reactor elements cleanly, two of the four massive projectiles also ripping into _The Solemns'_ already damaged decks, both vessels listing along in a deadly embrace as the space around the entire defensive flotilla lit up with auto-cannons, projectile weapons, self-defense turrets, torpedoes, missiles and fighter streaks. Raging firepower pouring from the vessels as they were cornered and fighting the enemy on all sides as the vessels closed in for the kill.

Bridges were alive with commands and calls for support and transmissions of losses. Shipboard AI weapons subroutines silently targeted, aimed, fired and recharged the massive anti-ship batteries of weapons racks aboard their vessels as their personages relayed data needlessly to each other and the vessel commanders.

Open station radio transmission from ship to ship and fighters were intercepted and broadcasted wildly.

"Is _The Solemn_ down!?"

" _Helsings Hold_! Give us a status update!"

"Why are there civilian vessels in the combat vectors!?"

It was chaos. It was disorder. Bluntly, this was a war of the likes these men had never seen.

Vessels buckled and crashed against each other as the enemy fire shredded their systems. Life pods ejecting alongside the stricken vessels in streams to the lush planet below.

* * *

 **13.03.02-0316UST ALW**

 **Outskirts of Autumns Hall, Kal Attar, Serus System**

 **ID +496**

Corporal Lanuk lay back on the cool ground, watching the glimmering display above as artificial stars fell from the heavens over the city. A streak of sadness and grief striking through him as the gravity of the shower of streaking flames settled in.


	9. Chapter 8: The Bulk of War

**Authors Note: Sorry for the delay in an update guys again. I appreciate the follows, reviews and likes though and will keep delivering in accordance. Threat of job loss as of recently had me scrambling with finances.**

 **I've yet to receive any usable ideas for the codex chapter. So that's still ongoing if yall are interested.**

* * *

Chapter 8: The Bulk of War

 **13.05.01-1452UST ALW**

 **Inner Patrol, Creron Major Asteroid Belt, Litus System**

 **ID +555**

Months upon months of patrols and security details in the Litus system was taking its toll on the small crew. The workload was just fine, that wasn't the problem. It was the environment and the lack of adrenaline that were wearing them thin. A rag tag fleet comprised of several different private security firms, contractors, and lone pilots was their task force. Luckily their vessel and team had been assigned to the in system Rapid Response Element, should anything arise that requires an immediate and violent reaction. Otherwise, the past year had been obscenely boring.

Fox sat on the workout bench in the dreadnoughts gym, panting lightly as he recovered from his last set of bench-presses. He looked down at his wrist communicator and sighed softly as he thought about the own personal pain he was causing himself, the wrist communicators G-level sensor causing a crisp 1.60G to flash in soft silent red. Over the past year, he'd been slowly turning the G-level up in the gym via the adjustable grav-plates to match the gravity of Seinov below, and he felt like it was killing him. He'd spend upwards of 2-3 hours daily in the gym working to acclimate to the change in gravity in case they needed to go groundside on any of the planets in the Litus system. However, the dividends were showing. He'd gained an immense amount of muscular strength and bulk, and his cardio fitness seemed to have improved drastically as well. He wiped a bit of sweat from his brow and laid back on the bench again, gripping the bar overhead and lifting it off the rest, exhaling as he looked up at it.

"Okay, only fifteen more… then food…" He mused to himself as he began the reps slowly and methodically, counting through his breaths. Whilst working, he didn't notice Krystal wander into the gym and head over to the exercise bike quietly.

She couldn't help but read his thoughts as she made her way to the bike and mounted herself upon it, growling slightly at the increased gravity in the room, but thankful Fox had thought of it ahead of time before they had to go groundside for any situations. Plus it was also doing wonders for her fitness as well.

She glanced over at Fox as she started to pedal, turning up the resistance a bit.

"So Fox, tired yet?" She chuckled a bit to herself as she began picking up the pace on the stationary bike. Him re-racking the barbell and sat up, panting softly and nodding.

"Yeah, definitely haha. You must be really bored up on the flight deck to be working out." He poked his tongue out playfully at her to solidify the joking jab.

"Haha shut up fatass." She poked back as she pedaled the bike steadily.

Fox stood up and grabbed his towel, drying off his head from sweat and murring lightly as he began stretching, small beads of sweat and dampness sticking to his short red/orange and white fur.

Krystal maintained her biking pace before looking over to Fox, panting slightly, "Oh hey Fox, we got a communique from General Pepper. He's sending us a team member as an extra medic. Said he's anticipating us to get action with enemy forces very soon. I left her file open on your control panel to review; Pepper said you have final say obviously." Krystal smiled softly as she kept biking, finishing her story between breaths.

Fox simply nodded and headed out to the shower in his quarters, "Thanks Krys, I'll read it over."

Walking into his quarters, he stripped down, enjoying the regular 1.00G gravity throughout the rest of the ship as opposed to the god awful gravity in the gym nowadays, even though it was his own fault. He climbed into his shower and turned on the water, the initial cool rush calming his body before the water warmed slightly, him rinsing off the sweat and soreness from his workout.

After the short rinse, he stepped out and into the ionic fur dryer, allowing it to swiftly blow dry his whole body off, grabbing a fresh pair of boxers and pulling on his flight pants as he walked up to the bridge with his shirt slung over his shoulder, thinking curiously to himself how himself, Falco, and Krystal had sort of just adopted an unofficial, relaxed topless policy. He shook his head a bit at the thought and walked into the empty bridge, save for ROB over at the nav terminal, and plopped down in his command seat, pulling up the new personnel file.

As the profile opened, Fox read over it, gathering the bland details first:

\- Alexia Vega

\- Canid (Half Wolf/Fox)

\- 27yrs

\- 5'2"

\- 51.0 kilograms

\- LMCM4, CA2, IPWS3, and CGV3 Certified.

Allowing his left hand-paw to rest on his chin as he read the document, he breathed quietly while considering the new personnel addition. On the one hand, her certifications and experience would make her a great asset, however on the other hand they had really no slot for another team member. Pouring over it for a few more minutes, he decided that he could use another person in the event of a ground support operation.

He typed up a quick response to General Pepper and shot it off, coding it to send on the subspace communication channels. After such, he stood up and stretched a bit, wandering off to grab some food from the cafeteria as ROB still ran the patrol and scanners.

* * *

 **13.06.17-0210UST ALW**

 **Keylight Proper, Kal Attar, Serus System**

 **ID +601**

The stench was horrid, bodies lying for days on the streets and in decrepit buildings as the fighting for the city still raged on. All of Lylats and the Confederations resources were being poured into holding the enemy off of Kal Attar, seemingly to no avail.

Civilian evacuation was front and center priority, with task forces being sent out to recover persons and pull them back to groundside docking stations to get them onto evac craft.

Kal Attar was the last planetary bastion that the CGC had in Serus, let alone the entire Armedes sector. There were a few fleet resupply stations scattered throughout the sector, and they remained well guarded, but they were no planet.

Lieutenant Gareth Harding slowly moved down the side street with his element of troopers, them having received word that a pocket of resistance fighters was holed up in the edge of this city and to link up with, and support them while providing frontline intel back to command.

As they pressed past a small business front, a display lay crooked on the desk, the view screen showing a recurring emergency news alert that Tantalos was entirely under enemy control as of last week, no friendly military element other than recon ships able to press into the system.

The fighting in this city was very light compared to Autumns Hall and the other key government and economic centers of Kal Attar, but nonetheless it was exceedingly dangerous. This city was mostly monitored by enemy mechs and assault bots of varying abilities. They were not hard to sneak past, however some of them were quite difficult to kill.

Harding stopped and backed up, his troopers doing the same as a small attack drone hovered past about fifty meters ahead of them, all seventeen rifles trained on it in case it decided to attack them. Luckily, the drone just glided past slowly, paying no mind to anything at its flanks.

The element moved forward, following their GPS linkup for another SU in their HUD's and finally pressed in on the target area, moving in slowly to find the small group of worn and weary fighters, barely awake enough to raise their rifles when the element pressed into their structure. The tenseness of the initial meeting passed relatively swiftly and the leaders of both elements spoke to one another regarding the situation, establishing the new chain of command and allowing the resistance fighters some much needed rest.

The long night and many days ahead seemed ominous to all in the room as distant firefights mumbled on.

* * *

 **13.10.12-1900UST ALW**

 **CGC HQ, Corneria City, Corneria, Lylat System**

 **ID +716**

Commander Keller opened the high priority communique notice he'd received, curious as to the contents being that the receiving block contained the tag lines for top Intelligence entities within the CDF and CGC. The log opened and populated his screen with coded entry requirements, to which he quietly typed in his personnel access code, verifying clearance and credentials.

The document slowly loaded as he rested his elbow on the desk, his fingers playing through his graying whiskers lightly on either side of his muzzle. As the document loaded fully, he adjusted his glasses covering his deep green eyes, squinting them a bit at the text. The plain words making the fur on the nape of his neck stand a bit on end as the gravity of the report sunk in.

Yes, the war had stretched on for the past two years. Yes, the casualties and costs were immense. But no one at CGC headquarters had received a total tabulation of the costs and lives spent on this war.

His hand-paw clenched as he scrolled through the document.

-/:Log Book Open/Date: 13.10.11ALW/Single Entry/-

Leading in, this report is to encompass losses of territory and rough estimates for loss of life during the past two years of combat operations against the enemy forces progressing through the expanse.

The current status of the Tantalos system is that it is considered at a total loss with no friendly presence in system any longer. It is the one solid foothold and secure base of operations that the enemy possesses in the expanse. Civilian loss of life out of Tantalos is massive, being that there was little to no response time to mitigate the well-coordinated surprise attack across the entire system.

Status of the Serus system is extremely tenuous with Hurions' standing being almost entirely under enemy control (all military and science research centers destroyed upon evacuation). Kal Attar remains largely contested while CDF, local, and naval forces evacuate remaining civilian personnel. Combat operations continue with the current operations plan being to allow Serus to fall to enemy control after friendly forces evacuate all civilian personnel. Current combat procedures are following a scathed landscape policy, leaving no military or scientific facilities for enemy forces to control. Evacuation operations expected to be 100% complete by 13.11.15ALW. Further reports will follow.

Service wide efforts are being focused on the withdrawal of forces and civilians from Serus, numerous civilian contracting and shipping agencies volunteering vessels to aid in the evacuation process. Medical aid is vastly unavailable with a large number of civilian deaths in refugee camps attributed to new strains of disease or lingering radiation sickness that standard nano-meds are not able to defeat.

Per Directive 12-094, all military shipboard nav systems have been purged prior to ship destruction or capture and thus far, no military shipboard AI has fallen into enemy hands. There have been two confirmed and corroborated reports of civilian transport craft falling into the hands of enemy forces, status of nav cores/AI were unknown at the time of capture. As of currently, the locations of remaining systems in the expanse are still retained in CGC and Lylatian control; Destruction of planet side science/military centers is mitigating the possible capture of nav charts and data. Civilian contracting and shipping agencies have reported numerous attempted cyber side attacks on their data systems, very highly likely an attempt by enemy forces to capture data on shipping lanes and locations of other systems. No further information at this time.

Casualty Report (Official Standing Figures):

Military – 7.1+ Million KIA

Civilian – 30.5+ Billion KIA

Countless still missing and unaccounted for

Estimates are that enemy forces have suffered similar military casualties. Retain this report for official use and vetting of resources. Tarn system is retaining ready reserve fleet for support if Lylat is breached by enemy forces.

-/:Log Close/Priority Status: High/Transmit CGCHQ LYLAT-TARN/DTS: 2USTALW/-

Keller sat almost jaw agape at the report, in shock that CGC High Command was intending on letting his home system fall into enemy hands in order to consolidate forces in Tarn and Lylat. He checked the recipients listing and made certain that his fellow staff members, acquisitions, and many others received the report.

* * *

 **14.01.01-0230UST ALW**

 **CGC HQ, Corneria City, Corneria, Lylat System**

 **ID +795**

"Sir, we need a contingency plan. This enemy is not going away nor letting up there aggression." The gray haired bulldog that just spoke leaned back in his seat in the dimly lit room, a bunker under the headquarters building, reserved for the most sensitive of meetings. The fact that they were buried under hundreds of metric tons of soil, concrete, and steel surrounded by a sound proofed and emissions locked vault solidifying the secrecy of their meeting.

The wolf receiving the words pondered them for a few moments, glancing out over the room at the several occupants, clearing his throat before speaking, "Well, what do you all propose, if anything?"

He watched the faces of the scientists, military strategists, all close colleagues of his as they thought on his question, him following it up with, "General Pepper tasked us, our small circle, to be a think tank. As my good friend stated…" he gestured over to the bulldog idly, "…we need to come up with a contingency plan that can work. So think deep. Pepper is prepared to pour an endless amount of resources at the plan we come up with, so it must be something worth the time and lives of the entire expanse."

The room was silent as minds churned and thought, nothing said and barely a breath taken. Then, one young newly commissioned naval officer raised his hand paw from the back of the room, "Sir, I may have a plan."

The tall wolf in charge of the meeting looked over to the officer and responded, "There's no rank in this room. So say your plan if you have it."

The young officer nodded and spoke up again, "Well, I've spoken with numerous contractors and scientists that have gone to the Solar system. Several of them were my professors, one in particular was my war theory professor, and he brought up that Humans by and large seemed to be only bred for one thing. That being war, and they've seemed to perfect it even on their own planet. And by my estimates, that would add at least two billion fighting bodies to our ranks against this threat."

The officer spoke moderately timidly, being aware that outlandish ideas had earned officers in the past derailed careers or poor peer reviews. A murmur arose over the room as the occupants considered the thought, adding and changing their own concepts to it.

After a while of thought, the wolf spoke up, the audience quieting, "That… is among one of the few plans I've heard that may actually work…"

There was a silent nod of approval that spread throughout the room as the young officer sat back in seeming shock at the response.

The next several hours involved talks of rudimentary plans, payments, recruiting, and logistics to bring this plan underway in the event it was needed. Boundary lines were set to keep from drawing humans into the war needlessly. Yet no one seemed to agree on the boundaries being discussed, as there were members of all the systems in the room, whether they be military, scientist, or executive.

The leader of the group finally spoke up and stated, "We've bastardized the young mans' plan enough, let him have a say…" He turned toward the young officer who hatched the initial contingency plan and asked, "This being your plan, what should the boundary be to draw humans into the conflict? Where should we start?"

The young retriever sat quietly and pondered the question. He pondered it for quite a while actually, the silence permeating the room as all eyes sat on him expectantly. Series after series of scenarios played out in his mind, all seeming to be too soon or too late.

After many long minutes, he looked up to the leader of the session and finally spoke, quiet yet courageous, all ears trained to his words.

"Being from an outside system, I've seen all the good and knowledge and experience that has come out of Tarn and Lylat. Scientists, leaders, military prowess, and some of the best universities in the expanse. Lylat represents what we are as a society, a conglomerate of many types all working together. If it is up to me and up to me alone, I say that if the enemy breaches Lylat, and attacks our very way of life, we call upon our human counterparts. At that point we will have exhausted every other option rather than bringing a fledgling species into a massive war."

Again, the silence in the room was oppressive. Utterly and unendingly thick. Emotions and thoughts and counter-plans coursed through everyones minds, yet no one could speak against the young officers words. He was right, they should exhaust every venue on their own before bringing in a race that hasn't made it past their own moon yet.

Finally the silence was broken by the leader of the meeting, "Very well. Are there any counters to this proposal?"

He looked out over the crowd of great military and scientific minds, seeing the want to reply in their eyes, even himself wanting to reply with something that would not be so late acting. But the idea of selfishly pulling in another race to a war that was theirs alone, for now.


	10. Chapter 9: Closer and Closer

**Authors Note: Sorry for the delay in an update guys again. I appreciate the follows, reviews and likes though and will keep delivering in accordance. Threat of job loss and a recent head-on car crash has had me scrambling with finances and stress management. Don't worry, I am uninjured.**

 **Chapter 9: Closer and Closer**

 **15.12.19-1712UST ALW**

 **Vachiri High Orbital Plane, Litus System**

 **ID +1504**

"Starfox! Bring that dreadnaught around to bear on this carrier! We're getting shredded out here!"

The call was frantic over the rapid response elements comms link, the entire blackened backdrop of space around Vachiri ripped and threaded with lances of anti-ship plasma bolts, particle weapon trails, and torpedo tracks.

ROB maneuvered the large dreadnaught of the Great Fox II about and brought the large main cannons up on line with the partnered cruiser, firing a nearly synchronized volley as ROB and the partnered cruisers' AI communicated silently on sub channels. The massively powerful beams lancing forward from the vessels and connecting with the large nearly four standard unit long enemy carrier, its shields buckling right as a slew of torpedoes slammed into its broadside, rupturing pressurized hangars and ripping self-defense weapons off their strongpoints.

ROB glided the surprisingly nimble dreadnaught underneath and up alongside the starboard prow of their carrier, intercepting a trio of missiles headed for an unshielded hangar and fuels bay. The small anti-vehicle missiles crumpling on the Great Fox's shields and exploding harmlessly against the vacuum of space. The Fox's self-defense and anti-ship turrets firing wildly at the intermittent passes of enemy fighters and smaller combat vessels. Ripped and mangled hull plates, single ship frames, and the occasional body bounced off the Great Fox's shielding with harmless silent impacts.

Fox rammed his throttle forward, the fusion drive responding with a light whine as coolant flushed through the conduits, his engine punching his arwing forward at exorbitant speeds as he pursued an enemy interceptor, lancing out at the craft with linked laser cannon blasts and tearing through the enemy vessels engine framework, resulting in a brilliant plume of yellow-green plasma explosion. His breathing heavy as green bolts laced and burned past his canopy from above, his shield alarms blaring as hits landed on his crafts protective bubble.

Thinking smoothly, Fox yanked back on his control yoke and flared his g-diffusers, bringing his arwing end for end in a split second and reversing his direction of flight, now moving rearward on the same vector as he opened fire on the pursuing fighter with rapid fire linked blasts, shearing the fighters shielding and canopy away, the enemy pilot struck and sucked into the vacuum of space as his crippled craft rocketed onward harmlessly to crash into the debris field of the enemy carrier. Even with his arwings g-diffuser system, Fox still felt the force of that many multi-gee maneuver, panting lightly as he rocketed his craft off to rejoin Falco in picking off the enemy transports and bomber craft attempting to enter the Vachiri atmosphere over the southern hemisphere.

"They always go straight for the space elevator and primary docking port at every planet huh Fox?" Falco asked calmly as he peeled around to come up onto Foxes aft port wingtip, trailing back across under and to the right fluidly as they flew on toward the orbital port.

"Yeah that seems to be their main MO Falco." Fox focused as he watched the defensive turrets on the orbital platform firing wildly in all directions, creating a dense flak field all around the rather vulnerable station.

"Hey Krys, you and Alexia onsite with that gunship yet?" Fox asked steely voiced as he and Falco passed under the station and popped out from the other side behind a group of fighters escorting a dropship, both he and Falcos targeting computers linked and deconflicting targeting solutions for their remaining Mk. 12 SBM's, the missiles slipping from their Arwings under-mounted internal launch rails and zeroing in on their targets with deadly precision, five successive explosions from the missile impacts and destroyed vessels lighting the area in front of them.

"Yeah Fox, we're holding at Dock 19 covering a civilian transport with a few single ships from Helix Company while they try to get off station!" Fox could pick up on the stress and strain in her voice as he and Falco swung about to help mop up the enemy forces trying to swarm the civilian transport at the docking bay.

Fighters dodged in and around the large heavily armored transport as the trio of ships worked in unison, slowly whittling away the ranks of the enemy single ships, calls for help, support, and failed defense echoing on the comms lines from all around them.

A single call suddenly breaking their focus on the combat, "All vessels! All vessels! This is station control! The enemy forces have landed and boarding team and are offloading a nuke! Clear away from the station now! I say aga…."

The broadcast was cut short as the sounds of blaster bolts, echoed explosions, and screams filled the channel, the Starfox team punching their thrusters to max capacity and clearing their flight computers estimated danger area right as the stationed bubbled and erupted into a massive plume of brilliant white fire and shrapnel behind them, radiation alarms flaring red across the fleet and single ships. The large transport craft carrying thousands of innocent civilians buckled and broke under the onslaught of the miniature suns force, it nowhere near fast enough to escape the wave of heat and destruction like the smaller fighters.

Krystal choked back a sob as she sensed the thousands of signatures of fear just suddenly go silent, some wavering in pain for an instant, but then snuffed out entirely.

Everyone was silent for a moment as both friendly and enemy vessels left the danger area to resume fighting at the edges of the debris and radiation field. The fragments of the massive station and space elevator collapsing through the atmosphere, a brilliant flaming bulk as it fell.

"Team, return to the Great Fox. We're gonna regroup with the response force and get Pepper on the line. Mercs can't handle this fight alone."

Everyone was silent and mulled over Foxes words as they came about and tracked toward the Great Fox, scars and some damaged hull plating from multiple impacts all over the surface of the large dreadnaught making them all remember the first Great Fox during the Aparoid conflicts.

The small ships flew into the cargo/hangar bay and landed easily, locking their systems as they climbed out to rest a bit. The Great Foxes cannons still firing endlessly as Slippy along with several weapons, engines, and control systems engineers kept everything working continuously.

 **16.11.17-2207UST ALW**

 **Cornerian Capital, Corneria, Lylat System**

 **ID +1832**

It had happened. After over five years of hard fought war, countless losses to an onslaught of a relentless enemy, whose numbers seemed endless.

After all this time, they'd found it. The center, our home. They were here.

He couldn't believe the sight at first, not even ten hours ago, a small fleet had dropped into the middle of the system, seemed to have just stumbled in, paused for a moment. Everything immediately told us that they were the enemy, and it was ominous. Battle stations system wide were prepped and ready at full capacity by two hours after the initial contact. Two ready fleets recalled into system from Tarn by hour three and due to be here within the day.

But as soon as they had jumped in, they left. The whole fleet, just up and jumped back out. No one dared follow them. We had hoped that maybe it was a happy accident, and they just passed through.

That was up until fifteen minutes ago, the whole fleet plus support elements dropped out of slipspace fifty thousand standard units off the Cornerian moon with another element dropping in past Venom. Three hundred and seven ships in total. It hadn't been a mistake.

Full evacuation efforts of main cities are underway but it will never be enough. Every single defense asset in reserve, active, alert, stored, and otherwise status has been pulled into service. Looking to the sky, one can see the gladiator class defense stations firing into the fleets ranks. Starlets of light and lances of rage dance across the stratosphere as the entire Cornerian Defense Fleet, assigned private military vessels, armed commercial vessels… everything… Our eight hundred ninety-one ships to their three hundred and four. And frankly, it probably wouldn't be enough. We have the weapons and technology, but they have the tenacity.

Every element across the expanse has been alerted on sub channels, weapons station Kithcart was actually jumped back into system via orbital gate. That's how bad it is, they brought an extra munitions station into the system. This will likely be our final bloody stand against this enemy, here, on our very homes proverbial front steps.

If it happens to be that I am the bearer of this bad news to the masses and my fears are warranted, in these being our final days, then know that every single man and woman in uniform and those in the privateer force did everything they could to keep this at bay.

"General..?" was the quiet word ahead of him that brought the gruff hound out of his methodical typing, forcing his attention to the young lab at the head of the room.

"Yes Makte?"

"Sir, the preparations to get you out of system to Tarn have been made. Your vessel is waiting." He sighed and simply nodded silently, standing and straightening his red coat, gathering up his comm pad and handing it to the younger canine as he walked out.

"Make sure the historical society gets that, it has everything we've done on our end for this terrible disaster." The sleek dog nodded in response, "Yes sir. Sir, are we pursuing the alternate forces plan?"

The general strode along, his handpaw idly smoothing his old whiskers as he pondered, considering that their counterparts may be brought into a losing war. But at least they would have a choice.

"Now would be better than any time if we are to consider it. Perhaps we can hold these scoundrels at bay long enough to bring them into the fray. Alert the strategic plans division that we will be pursuing the alternate forces plan, task a cruiser post haste, random jumps to their planet as soon as possible."

The lab nodded again, hurrying off as General Pepper strode down the corridor to the elevator, considering and weighing the options he had left, which were almost none. He'd watched this species utterly decimate two systems under his watch and in the process of ripping another to ribbons. And now they were here, his peoples home. As hopeless as it felt, he would not sit down and take it, and he knew no one else would either.

He glanced down at his wrist communicator and sighed as he considered yet another option, one that would certainly alert every single person in Lylat to the seriousness of the situation at hand. He thought for a long time as the elevator traversed the nearly twelve hundred floors of the building to the flight deck. Upon the doors slipping open smoothly, he'd made his decision and keyed up and well rehearsed code to the communicator, awaiting the answer on the other side.

"Central Defense, authenticate."

"Pepper, code tag 09A843G." the gruff hound recited monotone as he walked toward the waiting craft.

"Yes sir, line secure, relay message."

"Alert all installations that program 'area denial' is in effect. Pass notification to local populace on all channels and venues."

There was utter silence on the other end of the line as his words crossed the encrypted line. The likely young analyst on the other side of the channel verifying with his local superiors just what he had been told to do. Pepper sat in the side jump seat of his short-range shuttle as he was still on the line.

"Confirm order." The line rang out, a different voice over the line, concern evident in the obviously older respondents tone.

"Area denial is in effect. Pass notification to all CDF installations and populace on all channels and venues."

"Roger, confirmed. Have a nice day sir." The line went silent, the curt short tone of the other voice carried the weight of what had been commanded. The order had remained dormant even through the Lylat wars, as bad as they were.

 **17.04.29-0937UST ALW**

 **Earth, Sol System**

 **ID +1964**

"Why would we consider committing tens of thousands of our men and women to a conflict that has no view here?"

I couldn't believe my ears and eyes as I watched this disaster on the television, sitting in the team room with my guys. The UN had been berating this Lylatian diplomat for hours at this point, the poor feline looked as if he wanted to weep as he simply tried to explain that he was offering a choice, not demanding anyones help.

"As I've stated before, the enemy we have faced for five years is relentless. They are more xenophobic and invasive than anyone we've ever encountered before. If we fall, our defenses, they will find the secret of Earth and they will come here too. They will come for your resources and toss you aside as a species. I am not speaking in broad figurative fear mongering ladies and gentleman, I am speaking from watching two entire life filled systems become ruined shells at the hands of these monsters."

He sighed softly, having been saving this exchange for when the situation obviously was most dire.

"In exchange for any nation that assists in our conflict, win or lose, we will give you every ounce of knowledge we've gained. We will arm your troops and give the rest of your species faster than light travel, terraforming, medical advancement that will double your life span."

There was a hush over the room. Small whispers between seat partners at what he said. He had struck a chord, something that humanity craved more than anything… knowledge. Because with knowledge came violence and wealth. Everybody in that room wanted it, but no one wanted to speak for it first, because as soon as they spoke, it would be an arms race of commitments, just to have a taste, a glimpse at knowledge a thousand years ahead of our own. Nanotechnology, medical limb regrowth, synthetic stem cells, on demand gene therapy, cryo technology, faster than light, energy weapons that made our lasers look like play toys.

Everyone was silent. The whole of the UN, my team room, undoubtedly every leader of the eastern and western world debated committing. I smirked at the young diplomats' words. I didn't know if he'd studied humanity before he came here with that in his pocket, or just took a good guess.

But he dangled a carrot for us that no one would refuse.

"Who ya think will call in first and commit?" one of my senior team mates asked, leaned back on the couch.

"China or Russia, or North Korea." We all chuckled a bit and still watched as some discussion seemed to permeate the large auditorium. Then everyone hushed as one of the desk phones rang in the large hall of the UN.

It wasn't any of our guesses, Japan had phoned in and committed. The news scroll rapidly changing to keep up with the new information, a reporter speaking off to the side of the cameras edge. A rapid fire of phone rings echoed after the initial call, many more commitments right then and there.

The news scroll finally caught up with Japans move for taking first. Apparently, they were so aching for combat action that they had appealed to their self-defense force clause in their post-world war two constitution, stating that a massive overarching threat to earth from a hostile alien race is in and of itself a threat to Japans well-being.

It was so well thought out and convincing, at least to the UN, that it kind of made us wonder if we were stuck in the plot of some ridiculous science fiction plot.

The news continued rolling, UN members shaking hands, applauding. Maybe for once we as a species could unit against something as a whole.


	11. Codex & Data Sheet

**Authors Note:** **This is that portion in the last chapter that I was talking about, where you guys can help by providing inputs into my story. I've created a lot of data, but have left some blank for you guys. If you want to know the format of what I'm looking for, just check out what I've already written up.**

 **PM me with the info if you feel like creating anything, just follow the format I've built here already and try to avoid creating anything new (there's lots of stuff that hasn't had data made for it yet, so happily do that :P ). I'm gonna put making more data myself on hiatus while I work on the next chapter (yay for readers!).**

* * *

 **Exchange Rate:**

1.00 LMC (Lylatian Credit / Credit) = $2.63 (USD)

1.00 TPU (Tantalonian Credit) = 0.90 LMC (Lylatian Credit / Credit)

1.00 LRC (Litusian Credit) = 1.34 LMC (Lylatian Credit / Credit)

1.00 RPU (Regusian Credit) = 1.19 LMC (Lylatian Credit / Credit)

* * *

 **Distances:**

1.00 Standard Unit = 1.3 Kilometers = 0.813 Miles

* * *

 **Corporations:**

Space Dynamics (Lylatian Corp.) -

Dax Heavy Production (Lylatian Corp.) –

Keller Weapons Systems (Lylatian Corp.) – Small research and development firm dedicated to production of improved small arms for use by ground force personnel. Products developed include; General Purpose Blaster Rifle Mk. 8,

Manus Armory (Lylatian Corp.) – Military funded arms production company with its primary production center located in the Tarn System (a munitions manufacturing affiliate based in the Casius System) producing most of the small arms weapons systems the Lylatian Military has contracts for as well as packaging the munitions required for said weapons systems. Capability to produce both Energy based and Chemical based weapons systems. Production rate is very high, able to produce 100,000x small arms per month with associated munitions. Surge production capability is primarily in the munitions department, able to produce the equivalent of 150,000,000 rounds / month at each production facility (Tarn & Casius facilities). The Casius system facilities have the capability to transition between chemical and energy weapons production within three weeks. Tarn production facilities able to transition to chemical weapon production within two months.

Stratus Engineering Solutions (Lylatian Corp.) -

Qale Weapons Systems (Lylatian Corp.) – Leader in small arms directed energy and projectile weapons technologies development.

Armament LLC. (Earth Corp.) – Developed the PDSA Mk. 30 and submitted to US military appropriations in mid-2000, receiving a contract for 1.8 million sidearms by fiscal year 2010 with future contract options. Production capability is low and outsourced to external armories.

Fawkans Manufacturing Technologies (Earth Corp.) – Weapons manufacturing. Subsidiary of LWRC. Heavy focus in R&D of small arms weapons systems for ground troops. Developed the ISFC Mod 0, ISFC Mod 1 and IFSC Mod 2 combat rifles for US Military forces. Received contract to supply US Military with 5.2 million rifles by end of fiscal year 2015.

Jules Armory (Earth Corp.) – Armory founded and heavily funded by US military, producing the ISFC Mod 0, ISFC Mod 1 and IFSC Mod 2 combat rifles for US Military forces. Heavy production capability able to manufacture 80,000 rifles per month. Also has manufacturing rights and capability to produce the US forces primary battlefield sidearm, the PDSA Mk. 30, able to produce roughly 110,000 of the pistols per month.

Novus Engineering LLC (Earth Corp.) – Small engineering and R&D firm. Research and production dedicated to new armor and weapons technologies for ground troops and vehicles. Awarded DARPA contract in 2003 for two decades of research funding.

* * *

 *******Armor*******

 **Starship**

Class I – The lightest of all available starship grade armor plating. Relies on the rigidity of the hull to brace against impacts of weapons, simply an overlay of at minimum 4x centimeters of titanium battle plate that may or may not be partnered with Stellite coating.

Class II – Very common civilian level of armor plating for starships. Hardened titanium battle plates suitable to protect against glancing asteroid strikes less than 30 degrees (up to 0.05x the overall mass of the vessel) and direct meteoroid strikes. The thickness of Class II varies, as the class delineation is directly related to the hardness and layering of multiple titanium armor plates, however no Class II armor will be thinner than 10x centimeters. Commonly partnered with commercially available Stellite coating for directed energy weapon heat/energy dispersion. Anti-ship weapons systems will punch straight through entire Class II armored ships hulls.

Class III – This armor plating is highly commonplace on heavy civilian transports, an upscale of Class II armor, it is capable of deflecting small kinetic weapons, glancing strikes from asteroids less than 30 degrees to impact (up to 0.08x the overall mass of the vessel) and direct meteoroid strikes. As with the previous class of armor, Class III can be varying thickness with no portion being thinner than 17x centimeters. This is the first armor to also be bilayered, housing woven carbon composite polymers within the layers of titanium plate. Commonly partnered with Stellite coating for energy weapon and heat dispersion.

Class IV – The lightest class of armor allowed for a military starship, quite common on civilian vessels owned by wealthy persons. This armor class sits right at 0.24x meters thick and is a composite system of titanium plate and woven carbon polymers. Able to deflect large asteroid strikes (~0.10x overall mass of vessel) at incoming angle of up to 40 degrees as well as direct meteoroid strikes. Being that this is the lightest military armor available, it is not commonly utilized for combat craft and is very often seen associated with medium to heavy shield systems. Usually emplaced on light patrol vessels in peaceful systems functioning as military security.

Class V – This is one of the lightest levels of military combat armor in regular use for starships. At only 0.3x meters thick, the armor is simply a layered mix of titanium, Stellite and carbon composite weave. This armor is very light and designed to disperse light directed energy attacks. Most heavy anti-ship weapons will punch through this armor with little effort, causing catastrophic damage to ship systems. Highly recommended that this armor system be complimented by substantial shielding and/or the crew fully understand the limitations of their vessels armor. Highly susceptible to damage from heavy anti-ship weapons and large kinetic weapons systems.

Class VI – Light armor for starship class vessels that are primarily used in a reserve role, usually troop transport vessels that will not be in the primary combat zone. At 0.55x meters thick, the titanium, Stellite and ferro-ceramic layering provides ample protection against typical small fighters' weapon systems. However, the armor cannot provide sufficient protection against anti-ship weapons systems, tests showing that on average, 4x hits to a pressurized hull housed in Class VI armor will cause catastrophic failure.

Class VII – Combination armor plating designed for military starships. Provides a good tradeoff between displaced tonnage for the craft and protective capability. Tri-layered system of Titanium, ceramic and self-healing polymers. The armor is an overall thickness of 0.75x meters with the outer layer being 12x centimeters of Titanium followed by 6x centimeters of ceramic and then a buildup of polymers, repeated till thickness is achieved. Most common military starship armor in use.

Class VIII – Combination armor plating designed specifically for Lylatian fleet cruisers. Armor system is a multi-layered design partnering Class II Titanium hull plating with ferro-ceramic bilayers, built up to a thickness of 0.90x meters, the outermost layer consisting of 24x centimeters of Titanium battle-plate. During full battle ready, the ferro-ceramic layers of the ships armor are energized via conduits from the ships reactor, creating a natural electromagnetic shield which aids to pre-maturely bloom particle beam weapons tracks, reducing effectiveness upon impact. The same effect is moderately achieved with directed plasma weapons. The ferro-ceramic system is vulnerable to optically directed and kinetic weapons systems, relying on the Titanium battle-plate to absorb those impacts.

Class IX – A modified version of Class VIII armor plating, the difference being overall thickness increased to 1.2x meters and the efficiency of the ferro-ceramic layers improved to allow ~40% further distance to begin affecting incoming energy weapons. The outer layer of the bow is also coated with a 0.50x centimeter layer of Stellite protective coating, dispersing most energy weapons impacts. Stellite layering is excellent at dispersing the heat and energy of directed energy weapons impacts; however it is highly susceptible to impacts from kinetic weapons, able to be "blown away" exposing the titanium battle plate.

Class X – The strongest armor plating level in the Lylatian fleet service, relegated to capitol/command ships and diplomatic/HVT/HVI transports. The Class X armor plating adopts the same principles as the previous two classes, however the overall thickness of 2.0x meters provides for substantial protection against nearly all weapons systems in the Lylatian fleet and enemy vessels, able to survive a glancing blow from a PGRFRS-W Mod 2.1 projectile when the approach angle is less than 26 degrees to impact (albeit with substantial outer and inner hull damage).

 **Air/Vehicle**

Class I

Class II

Class III

Class IV

Class V

Class VI

Class VII – This is the primary level of military armor plating in use for military craft. The armor consists of a complex of very light bilayers of Titanium and carbon based woven polymer armor with a Stellite coating able to handle most light class directed energy weapons and light kinetic weapons impacts. The Stellite coating can be "blown away" by significantly higher energy or kinetic attacks, being that it is designed to deflect the heat and energy of directed energy weapons (not the kinetic energy), exposing the titanium battle plate underneath. The overall armor thickness varies based on the placement around the craft, but minimum thickness is 2x centimeters with critical points of the craft (engine, fusion drive, weapons pods, etc.) being covered by up to 4x centimeters of the armor. The combination of woven carbon fiber polymers and titanium makes for a very light and robust armor system, not inhibiting craft performance.

Class VIII

Class IX

Class X

 **Personnel**

Class I

Class II

Class III

Class IV

Class V

Class VI

* * *

 *******Shielding*******

 **Starship**

Class I – This level of shielding is primarily a civilian class of shielding, efficient at heat dispersion for atmospheric entry and moderate protection from rogue threats that civilian vessel may face (pirates, asteroids, etc.). System provides full envelopment of vessel with no ability to cycle against threat frequencies, pulling 14% of ships reactor power to run the shield system for the dedicated craft. Poor capability against all energy weapons. Poor capability against kinetic weapons. Recharge rate from full depletion is ~48 seconds.

Class II – The concept behind this shielding system is for the ships sensor suite to detect what capability the enemy weapons system have (frequency, energy output, type, etc.). The starships onboard AI, accompanied with the shielding systems bank of computers cycles the shields to the most appropriate frequency to account for the greatest threat currently being faced. Due to this lag time and the shield systems only focusing on the current greatest threat, this is the Achilles heel of Class II shielding; the system easily overwhelmed by just two enemy vessels with separate weapon system types. The tradeoff this system provides is good energy management, being that it selects the most efficient defense pattern and draws very little (relatively speaking) energy from the ships reactor, 9% of reactor energy dedicated to the system. This shielding is commonplace on both Civilian and Military starships. Moderately capable against all energy weapons. Poor/No capability against kinetic weapons. Recharge rate from full depletion is ~55 seconds.

Class III – This shielding system was designed for large military craft that have relatively poor self-defense capability and serious energy management considerations in mind. The shipboard AI along with the shielding systems computer banks scan the surrounding threats, comparing the associated ship classes with known weapon systems and cycle the shield frequencies through the top three (3x) most dangerous profiles. Full envelopment of the craft is what this system provides, however the faces of the craft that are being attacked the most can be bolstered by cycling shielding power away from the "safe" sides of the ship. For the coverage this shielding system provides and the capability it establishes, the system is quite efficient, requiring only 12% of dedicated energy from the ships reactor. Moderate/Good capability against energy weapons. Poor capability against kinetic weapons. Recharge rate from full depletion is ~70 seconds.

Class IV – This shielding system is designed around the premise that the craft it is enveloping will be in highly hostile, non-permissive environments. Usually reserved for military vessels that will be used in a front line combat or recon role, wherein vessels may receive anti-ship enemy fire from all aspects. Using shipboard AI control to track incoming energy weapon signatures and bulk shielding power output for the associated portion of incoming fire. As expected, this full envelopment shield system requires a mass power draw from the shipboard reactor. Shielding can be split between bow and stern of the vessel, reducing power draw or providing bolstered, nearly double protection at full power output to either the bow or aft sections. Shipboard AI controls these aspects based on commanders generalized input. Class IV shielding energy requirements are very large, pulling 27% of the reactors available output to provide full coverage to the hull. Good capability against energy weapons. Moderate capability against kinetic weapons. Recharge rate from full depletion is ~82 seconds.

Class V – This is the strongest of all starship grade shielding systems, drawing mass power from the shipboard reactor. This shielding class is usually relegated to Orbital Defense Platforms [example: ODP-04 (Garmura Station) and ODP-09 (Helios Station) guarding the orbital gate above Corneria / _Gladiator Class_ ODP Stations]. This system is capable of deflecting 1x direct projectile shot from the PGRFRS-W Mod 2.1 Starship Rail Weapon, after which the system must recharge from near depletion. System does not utilize AI support, relying on automated scans to identify incoming energy weapon frequencies, cycling through the top five (5x) most deadly/powerful incoming energy weapon frequencies in its data bank after comparing the incoming energy profiles. Despite its mass power requirements, the shield system is capable of a relatively swift recharge for the protection it provides (if power requirements are met). Class V shielding energy requirements are massive, pulling 39% of the reactors available output to provide full coverage to the hull. Excellent capability against energy weapons. Excellent capability against kinetic weapons. Recharge rate from full depletion is ~53 seconds (if power requirements are met and maintained).

 **Air/Vehicle**

Class I

Class II

Class III

Class IV

Class V

 **Personnel**

Class I - Personnel protective shielding comes in the form of a "deflector." A rapidly deployable, self-contained personal shielding system capable of deflecting all small arms class energy weapon impacts as well as most small arms class kinetic weapon impacts. This system is still in prototyping stage and should not be relied upon as a long term feasible protective measure. Deflector does not protect personnel from blast and over-pressure from explosive munitions or incendiary threats, only deflecting the shrapnel. Onboard capacitor deck will allow the deflector to be deployed for up to ~28 seconds prior to self-depletion for recharge. Under sustained fire, the personal shielding system may last for an average up to ~13 seconds, however this time can vary widely with a margin of plus or minus ~8 seconds depending on the volume of fire and type of weapons employed [Testing Environment: 4x General Purpose Blaster Rifle Mk. 8 and 2x Shrapnel Generation Device (lab testing apparatus propelling 796x 5mm ball bearings at 972 meters per second)]. Self-contained miniature power plant utilizes deuterium fuel and provides a total of ~17x full recharge cycles of the shield system. Good capability against all energy weapons. Moderate capability against kinetic weapons. Recharge rate from full depletion is ~91 seconds.

* * *

 *******Weapons*******

 *****Starship*****

B-X06IN Particle Beam Cannon – Anti-ship weapon system commonly equipped on Lylatian Battlecruisers. Capable of catastrophic damage to un-shielded Class VII Starship plating. Directed energy powerful enough to punch through full power Class IV Starship Shielding systems, however hull damage after successful shield penetration is relatively minimal due to beam blooming upon shield impact. Recharge rate is dependent on generation of ships weapons capacitors. Generation I capacitors are capable of full power firing sequence at ~39 seconds. Generation II capacitors are capable of achieving full firing sequence within ~27 seconds. Capacitors are commonly stacked on the firing rail of the cannons main system to achieve rapid follow-up shots. Upper limits of this weapon system are four (4x) subsequent shots per dedicated particle rail in a row. A fifth (5th) shot within eleven (11x) seconds of the fourth (4th) shot will cause irreparable damage to the particle rails and any subsequent shot will cause a full meltdown and detonation of the system.

B-X12H3 Particle Beam Cannon – Anti-ship weapon system commonly equipped on Lylatian Frigates and Light Cruisers. Similar to its bigger sister, the B-X06IN, this particle beam cannon is capable of severe catastrophic damage to unshielded starship armor plating, able to fully penetrate unshielded Class VI starship plating. This system is much lower powered than its larger counterpart, due in essence to the more efficient operation, pulling less power from the ships reactor to enable full power firing sequence. It utilizes its larger counterparts same Generation II capacitors, however is able to fire at only 83% charge capacity for 1x capacitor. This being the case, internal circuitry limits the power flow from capacitors to the firing rail, the remaining 17% of capacitor energy being retained and stored for use in the vessels thrust system, enabling the vessel the ability to "sprint" at 100% + XX% (usual thrust capability varies from 120-170% increase in thrust) for short periods. Similarly to its older sister weapon system, this current particle weapons rails are rated to handle only 4x shots prior to a substantial cool down. A fifth (5th) shot within eleven (11x) seconds of the fourth (4th) shot will cause irreparable damage to the particle rails and any subsequent shot will cause a full meltdown and detonation of the system.

PGRFRS-W Mod 2.1 Starship Rail Weapon – This is the first and only kinetic weapon equipped on a starship in Lylatian fleets. Designed for anti-ship operations at extreme range, typically capable of engagements 2.5x further than directed particle weapon systems. The technology for the "Precision Guided Rod Firing Rail System-Tungsten Mod 2.1" was derived from pre-existing mass driver technologies used for transport of hard materials from planets surfaces into orbit. The weapon fires 54x tonne conical, cylinder ferrous tungsten rods at 0.13x the speed of light, capable of punching through nearly all starship plating and most shielding systems. The primary rail/barrel of the weapon is a vast Titanium tube with a Titanium Nitride impregnation & coating along the interior diameter of the barrel to reduce friction as no lubrication is utilized. Four collars around the massive titanium barrel contain the large electromagnets required to propel the ferrous tungsten projectiles. In a series controlled to nanoseconds, the collars are engaged by stored power available in the bank of capacitors along the 400x meter long firing rail, firing the large projectile. The projectiles are ferrous-tungsten in a large self-lubricating polymer sabot consisting of Teflon and Ceramic impregnation to reduce friction inside the large weapons barrel. Firing speed is primarily restricted by the loading timeline of the projectiles, with a new projectile able to be loaded every 17x seconds.

Fenrir Mk. 0 Mod 1 Anti-Ship Torpedo \- Massive guided anti-ship explosive with a dual charge system. Slower moving than its smaller anit-ship or anti-small-vessel missile counterparts and having less guidance, the Fenrir series of anti-ship torpedoes will not lock onto a target with a RABD-V cross section smaller than 250m^2. Basing relegated feedbacks from the target, the torpedo flies a path to the target on a three-point-guidance scheme for maneuvering targets, non-maneuvering targets simply homed in upon on the most efficient flight profile. The maximum detection range of this system's targeting computer and sensors is in excess of 762 Standard Units and flyout range is 590 SU. The onboard targeting computer and guidance system is hardened against radiation, EMP and highly resistance to jamming of the guidance/RABD-V system. Limitations of the torpedo are the inability to engage threats within atmosphere as well as inability to engage/track threats with an angular velocity of greater than 12* / second, due to limitations in the thrust and attitude control systems onboard the torpedo. The torpedo is proximity/impact initiated, detonating its first charge within 2x meters of the target vessel por upon impact with a shielding system. The secondary charge detonating on a time delay 0.15 seconds after the main charge. The main explosive is a conical shaped charge consisting of hybridized and molecularly stable Tritium Impregnated Dinitrogen Pentoxide Polymer Explosive (TIDPPE), yielding a total force of 0.7 kilotons of equivalent TNT detonation, however the shaped charge forced directive blast of the charge yields a total 1.3 kiloton yield along the single line of blast direction. The first charge is designed to shear away ablative armor plating or punch directly through Class VIII starship armor and locally deplete Class III shielding, enough for the secondary charge to punch through. The secondary charge consists of a circular cutting charge roughly 1.1 meters in diameter and initiated by the same explosive as the first charge. The secondary charge relies on the weakening of the ships armor plating by the first charge and upon initiation, uniformly detonates the ring of TIDPPE around a Molybdenum Tungsten angled channel with an internal apex of 57.5 degrees. Upon detonation of the secondary charge, a uniform circular jet of plasmatic MoW alloy streaming into the already weakened armor in order to cut through and pierce the inner hull. The intent with the dual charge is as follows; 1) Weaken plating with primary charge, 2) Create circular cut with secondary charge into shipboard plating, 3) Internal vessel pressures push plating cut outward and vent internal atmosphere.

Guardian XRASM-03 Anti-Ship Missile \- Large anti-ship missile. Very swift and maneuverable long range missile that locks onto large vessel emissions signatures and retains that emissions "image" in its memory, locking only onto 1x target with a lock that is unbreakable except by direct masking of signatures. Basing relegated feedbacks from the target, the missile flies a path to the target on a three-point-guidance scheme for maneuvering targets. The maximum detection range of this system's targeting computer and sensors is in excess of 615 Standard Units and flyout range is 500 SU. The onboard targeting computer and guidance system is hardened against radiation, EMP and highly resistance to jamming of the guidance/RABD-V system. Limitations of the missile are the inability to engage threats within low level atmosphere as well as inability to engage/track threats with an angular velocity of greater than 19* / second, due to limitations in the thrust and attitude control systems onboard the missile. The missile is proximity/impact initiated, detonating its charge within 1.5x meters of the target vessel or upon impact with a shielding system. The main explosive is a cylindrical shaped charge consisting of hybridized and molecularly stable Tritium Impregnated Dinitrogen Pentoxide Polymer Explosive (TIDPPE) encased in an expand & detach linkage mechanism, which upon detonation, rapidly expands to the rough diameter of 7.0x meters. The expand & detach linkage mechanism is a lattice of hinged tungsten and hardened titanium spikes, able to shred air and spacecraft control surfaces and punch through large vessel power conduits. The charge is designed to shear away ablative armor plating or punch the spikes directly through Class VI starship armor and locally deplete Class II shielding.

Salos ASVM Mod 3.6 -

 *****Air/Vehicle*****

B-X42 Particle Beam Accelerator – Newer upgrade to replace the aging T&B H-1 Laser Cannons commonly mounted on fighters in the Lylatian Air/Space services. The PBA weapons system allows for much easier maintenance by replacing the complex and relatively fragile laser diodes and with a much simpler tri-rail system in which particlized high energy ion beams are directed toward their target via magnetic control in the three partitioned rail that sit in the outer "barrel" housing. To compliment this system, the designers input redundant heat sinks into the layout of the rails and "barrel" allowing near continuous fire without overheating in a vacuum environment. Heat buildup however can occur within about ~60 seconds of continuous fire when operating in atmospheric conditions like those found on Corneria (varying atmospheric densities, temperatures or compositions may increase or decrease this time). The maximum effective range for this system currently sits at: ~5.5 Kilometers in Vacuum / 2.1 Kilometers in Atmosphere.

T&B H-1 Laser Cannon \- Most commonly mounted weapon system on fighters in the Lylatian Air/Space services. The H-1 weapons system employs hardened circuitry surrounding the lasers' aiming and frame components, capable of projecting a 350+ kilowatt energy beam. To compliment this system, the designers input redundant heat sinks and recharge systems into the layout of the circuitry along the firing diode allowing near continuous fire without overheating in a vacuum environment. Heat buildup however can occur within about ~52 seconds of continuous fire when operating in atmospheric conditions like those found on Corneria (varying atmospheric densities, temperatures or compositions may increase or decrease this time). The H-1 laser weapon system also relies on the concept of "continuous charged firing system," wherein the capacitors and circuitry draw a small portion of power proportionately to what is supplied and the weapons output; however if at any time the power supply capability dips below minimum allowable levels, the weapon system will not function, hence the later model upgrade to the B-X42 Particle Beam Accelerator for Lylatian air/space fighters. The maximum effective range for this system currently sits at: ~4.0+ Kilometers in Vacuum / 1.7 Kilometers in Atmosphere.

HOVE-SBM Mk. 12 \- This is the standard anti-aircraft missile utilized by Lylatian fighter craft. The missile has both in- and exo-atmospheric capabilities, with the ability to lock on to vehicle emissions via RABD-V linked sensor suites or onboard sensor arrays and capable of "High Off-Boresight" shots. Once lock is achieved, internal computational arrays slave the targets data and signature to the Mk. 12's guidance computer sensors, keeping the missile tracking only one specific target. As part of its "smart" missile capability, the onboard computer contains deconfliction software capable of negating a lock onto a target a previous missile is already locked onto, unless pilot override is given. Its slim line body, aggressively pointed leading nose cone and efficient boat tail aft section allow for immense in-atmosphere speeds, capable of 6.3 Mach. It's maneuverability in atmosphere is unmatched as well, only able to be avoided in most situations by a "last-ditch maneuver," the maneuverability of the Mk. 12 sitting at ~45 G in atmosphere, far outmaneuvering all aircraft it would encounter. In-atmosphere range is approximately 47 standard units before self destruct fuze initiates. Exo-atmospheric speed is greatly dependent on the relativistic nature of the surroundings and varies widely, however maneuverability is decreased to ~19 G (for having to rely on quick burst attitude control thrusters) and range is increased to 80+ SU's. The warhead explosive element is 18.3 kilograms of FCE (Formed Crystallized Explosive) and is stable against shock, velocity, and G-force alternations far in excess of 2000 G equivalencies, with detonation reliant on a Series 12 Mod 1.0 CED (Crystallized Explosive Detonator). The warhead damage element is a combination of hardened tungsten-titanium alloy darts arrayed in a spherical pattern with most of the density to the forward and lateral hemispheres. Kill radius of the warhead is shown to consistently be limited at ~18 meters.

 *****Personnel*****

STALZ Mk. IV Weapon Sight – Sighting aid that links to standard Lylatian battle rifles and displays a long burning holographic reticle and rudimentary closed circuit sensors that detect the flight path of the first projectile/energy bolt fired from the under-mounted weapon, "Auto Leveling and Zeroing" to adjust the optic on the correct profile for the second shot to be on target. Developed by _Qale Weapons Systems_ for use by military forces. The battery life of the optic is ~75,000 hours constant on. The optics internal sensors include a gravimetric sensor and ruggedized gyroscope. The optic is very robust, its circuitry and inner functioning capable of withstanding significant EMP exposure, up to 4x Mega-Rads of radiation exposure and substantial G force survivability, able to withstand 12,000+ G's instantaneously and 5,000 G's in a sustained setting. It is also fully hardened and ruggedized for use in water, space, desert and artic environments. The optic comes coupled with a mount capable of linking variable power optics as well as numerous stored reticule patterns that can be selected and user locked. Based on user preference, the reticule auto level and zeroing may be locked so that the reticule does not shift with variation from shot to shot (this is the preferred and taught setting, zeroes being re-established in controlled environments for the next operating area). Note: Qale Weapons Systems adapted this optic to mount to 1913 Picatinny rails, in line with the desire for the Lylatian military to modernize its weapons arsenal.

General Purpose Blaster Rifle Mk. 8 – The standard combat rifle for Lylatian ground forces. Developed by _Keller Weapons Systems_ several years prior to the first Lylat war and entering manufacturing en masse by _Manus Armory_ in 06.02ALW after extensive military testing and vetting. Sitting at 69.0 centimeters long when the buttstock is collapsed and 80.5 centimeters when stock is fully extended. The standardized weapon system weighing 3.23kg when fully loaded, the unloaded weight being 2.83kg. The blaster rifle is very robust, its circuitry and inner functioning capable of withstanding significant EMP exposure, up to 4x Mega-Rads of radiation exposure and substantial G force survivability, able to withstand 12,000+ G's instantaneously and 5,000 G's in a sustained setting. It is also fully hardened and ruggedized for use in water, space, desert and artic environments. Personnel are able to equip the rifle with any number of optical aids and devices; scopes, range finding optics, lights, lasers, etc. The diverse capability makes the weapon system very common for army, marine and naval forces alike, allowing for relative standardization and easy equipment/logistical support. The munition supply for this weapon is supplied by the "Standardized Small Arms Gas Canister," which is filled with charged particles of ionic plasma gas, able to provide 320x shots. A new gas cartridge is placed into the slot directly in front of the trigger guard, barely jutting out from the mouth of the cartridge port. This rifle has no alternate power levels like some different (usually civilian commercial grade) blasters and engages full firing power at every shot. It is however capable of firing in semi-automatic, three-bolt-burst and full auto, the selector switch being an ambidextrous reinforced polymer rotating selector switch (similar to that of the HK MP-5), substantial detent clicks at each selection holding the weapon in its desired firing mode. Substantial onboard cooling systems and heat sinks allowing full auto firing for ~17 seconds prior to auto cool-down. Its full auto firing rate is roughly 720 bolts per minute. Construction is primarily titanium and carbon composite weave, allowing for overall light weight comparative to previous weapon systems of the same size/capability. The circuitry is a mix of metals and graphene based polymers, creating very strong heat resistant circuitry. The damage capability of this weapon system is quite extensive, able to successfully penetrate with killing ability through Class VI Personnel armor / Class III Vehicle Armor / 50% Class I Starship Plating. It's bright blue energy filled bolts of plasma based ionic energy blasts can travel up to 5.5x kilometers in Corneria like atmosphere prior to bloom/energy dispersion. Space borne operations allow for the bolts to travel upwards of 10+ kilometers. This weapon system is commonly paired with the "STALZ Mk. IV Weapon Sight." The final revision (Mk. 8) includes the element of 1913 Picatinny rails for optics and other attachments to be quickly swapped out. This was to align with the Lylatian militaries desire to modernize personnel weapons systems.

ISFC Mod 0 – The leader to the family of weapon systems that the US Military relies on. Taking from its older cousin (the M4A1), the ISFC Mod 0 is a 14" barreled, short stroke gas piston operated, rotating bolt mechanism, projectile firing weapon with 1x7" 5R rifling in a CHF Double Thickness Chrome Lined barrel, capable of both semi-automatic and three-round burst. It fires the standardized 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge. Point target engagement distance is 500 meters, area target is 800 meters. Development of the weapon system was led by Fawkans Manufacturing Technologies and submitted through LWRC to the US Military for adoption in early 2004, the military adopting and applying the new rifle to training units for future implementation, fully implemented into the armed forces by end of fiscal year 2006, primarily for the US Army and US Marines. The weapon system allows for consistent and improved functioning in nearly all environments due to the gas piston operating system, keeping the weapons receiver clean and capable of firing without carbon buildup induced failure for 15,000+ rounds. Testing shows that the rifle consistently surpasses 20,000 rounds firing prior to failures. Due to its slim handguard and alloy construction, the ISFC Mod 0 is lightweight, coming in at 3.5kg fully loaded and 3.1kg unloaded. It is able to be fitted with numerous optical devices, lights, lasers, etc. thanks to the 1913 picatinny rail along the top of the 13" slim tubular handguard and flat-top upper receiver.

ISFC Mod 1 – The first modification to the family of weapon systems that the US Military relies on. The ISFC Mod 1 is an 11" barreled, short stroke gas piston operated, rotating bolt mechanism, projectile firing weapon with 1x7" 5R rifling in a CHF Double Thickness Chrome Lined barrel, capable of both semi-automatic and three-round burst. It fires the standardized 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge. Point target engagement distance is 350 meters, area target is 600 meters. Development of the weapon system was led by Fawkans Manufacturing Technologies and submitted through LWRC to the US Military for adoption in early 2006, the military adopting and applying the new rifle to training units for future implementation, fully implemented into the armed forces by end of fiscal year 2007, primarily for the US Navy and US Air Force. The weapon system allows for consistent and improved functioning in nearly all environments due to the gas piston operating system, keeping the weapons receiver clean and capable of firing without carbon buildup induced failure for 15,000+ rounds. Testing shows that the rifle consistently surpasses 20,000 rounds firing prior to failures. Due to its slim handguard and alloy construction, the ISFC Mod 1 is lightweight, coming in at 3.1kg fully loaded and 2.7kg unloaded. It is able to be fitted with numerous optical devices, lights, lasers, etc. thanks to the 1913 picatinny rail along the top of the 10" slim tubular handguard and flat-top upper receiver.

IFSC Mod 2 \- The second modification to the family of weapon systems that the US Military relies on. The ISFC Mod 2 is an 18" barreled, short stroke gas piston operated, rotating bolt mechanism, projectile firing weapon. It fires the standardized 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge with 1x8" 5R rifling in a CHF Double Thickness Chrome Lined barrel, capable of semi-automatic fire. Burst fire was scrapped for a much more consistent 3.5lb pull two stage national match trigger system. Point target engagement distance is 600 meters, area target is 900 meters. Development of the weapon system was led by Fawkans Manufacturing Technologies and submitted through LWRC to the US Military for adoption in early 2006, the military adopting and applying the new rifle to training units for future implementation, fully implemented into the armed forces by end of fiscal year 2007, primarily designated marksman use in all branches of the military. The weapon system allows for consistent and improved functioning in nearly all environments due to the gas piston operating system, keeping the weapons receiver clean and capable of firing without carbon buildup induced failure for 15,000+ rounds. Testing shows that the rifle consistently surpasses 20,000 rounds firing prior to failures. Due to its slim handguard and alloy construction, the ISFC Mod 2 is lightweight, coming in at 3.75kg fully loaded and 3.35kg unloaded. It is able to be fitted with numerous optical devices, lights, lasers, etc. thanks to the 1913 picatinny rail along the top of the 15" slim tubular handguard and flat-top upper receiver.

PDSA Mk. 30 – Standard sidearm of the US Military, replacing the older Beretta M9 in fiscal year 2002 for all military branches after passing military testing and vetting, ongoing since mid-2000. Meeting the "US Military Forces Standardized Sidearm" prerequisites, the Mk. 30 entered testing rivaling the playing field with its striker fired design, care taken with QPQ Melonite treatment to key parts as well as high polished titanium nitride firing mechanism parts, allowing for a crisp, consistent 4.8lb trigger pull with low creep and a short reset. This sidearm borrows from its older striker fired cousins such as Glock and Springfield pistols, melding ergonomics with battlefield resilience. The striker fired pistol resembles an XD series pistol from the outside, however takes away the grip safety and relies solely on the Glock style "trigger safety." It also adopts the design of Glock style reinforced polymer magazines for ease of construction, cost concerns and low reflectivity in battlefield environments. The pistol is a 9x19mm recoil operated sidearm with a 12.5 centimeter barrel capable of stabilizing all standard 9mm handgun round loads (115gr, 124gr, 147gr) with a capacity of 18+1 rounds. The long sight radius allows troops to engage targets at 50 meters with ease. Complaint of the small 9mm round was dissuaded by the increased capacity of the magazine. Personnel previously unable to properly grip the M9 service pistol due to the thickness of the grip are able to much more easily handle the Mk. 30, due to the slimmer and more ergonomic polymer grip layout.

* * *

 **Ground Combat Craft:**

LGA/RV-19 – Lylatian Phantom Badger Equivalent. Standard ground assault vehicle for Lylatian Marine & Army Forces. Very robust yet lightweight. Housed in Class VI vehicle armor, protecting vital systems and is entirely unshielded.

* * *

 **Aerial/Space Combat Craft:**

F-30 Mk. I (Arwing) \- The Arwing is a single seat, highly maneuverable, aerial and space superiority fighter. The Arwings main shining point is its versatility as a fighter, capable of being deployed from; ground, carriers and support ships in a variety of roles, however the Arwing was rated as too costly for implementation into the Lylatian formal military forces, being reserved for some Special Air Groups and Private Purchase Contracts. The Arwings power plant is a Series XII T7-G242 Fusion Drive, capable of powering the single PR88-3X Mod 1.4 plasma engine as well as all the other systems aboard the craft, to include the FAS32-71A G-Diffuser System. The primary armament of the Arwing is the T&B H1 Laser Cannon, the layout being one weapon under each of the two angular wings. The Arwing has no energy shielding and sports a Class VII Armor Plated hull. The fuel system for the Arwing is the Lylatian standard of deuterium fuel cells, capable of delivering 7x days of unrefueled operation in space environments, with roughly ~3x days of unrefueled operation in a Cornerian like atmosphere (thinner/thicker atmosphere and differing planetary gravity may affect fuel estimates). The craft is roughly 17.5 meters long and 8.5 meters wide, with under and over-mounted g-diffuser system winglets. The cockpit is heated and completely sealed for atmosphere. The cockpit and associated instruments are shielded against EMP and Radiation; protecting pilots in environments with high enough rad count to kill living organisms within 30x seconds. The Arwings' maneuverability capabilities are substantial, due to the integrated G-Diffuser System, protecting pilots from the complexities faced while operating in a high sustained-G-force environment. The sustained turning rate of the Arwing is 25 degrees / second, able to far outmaneuver enemy and friendly aircraft. When un-aided by the G-Diffuser system, the Arwings G limits are +10.5 G & -4.5G. The cockpit canopy provides the pilot an exceptional view of 302x degrees, the point directly behind the pilots head blocked by the power plant and engine framework/workings. The Arwings' central nervous system is its complex AI-356M Mk. 2 RABD-V (Range, Altitude, Bearing, Declination, Velocity) sensor suite, the data system that feeds back flight data, friendly/neutral/enemy data, altitude, current position, weapons guidance, etc. The life support systems aboard Arwings are able to support a pilot in hostile atmosphere, or vacuum, for ~3x days before replenishment is required. Arwings, along with their Laser Cannon weapon systems, are also able to carry 4x HOVE-SBM Mk. 12 Missiles (Smart Bombs) and numerous air to ground munitions. The smart bombs are linked to the RABD-V sensor suite prior to firing for target acquisition and upon leaving the under-body launch port of the Arwing, become active-guided-munitions, devoid of any further input from the crafts sensor suite, allowing the pilot to fire and forget. The cockpit is also equipped with a Heads Up Display (HUD) allowing the pilot to link target data, flight information or even enhanced viewing of targets at ranges of 4.6 kilometers (optical aid alongside cockpit canopy). The maximum velocity of the Arwing is: 1.7 Mach in Atmosphere / Space – ***Velocity Relative to Objects around Craft / Varies Widely***. Ejection is capable in the Arwing; however Pilot must be equipped with EVA/Pressure Suit to eject in vacuum. In atmosphere, the Arwings' seat ejects with the pilot, keeping him strapped in safely and a chute will deploy from the rear/top of the seat once the pilot has free-fallen to a safe altitude for chute deployment.

F-46 Mk. III (Viper) – The Viper is a single seat, highly maneuverable, aerial and space superiority fighter that takes many of its traits from the prior Arwing, however for cost reasons the complex g-diffuser system was scrapped from the design. The Vipers main shining point is its versatility as a fighter, capable of being deployed from; ground, carriers and support ships in a variety of roles, however Viper pilots are trained primarily in air-to-air combat with only specialized squadrons receiving training in air-to-ground and CAS. The Vipers power plant is a Series XIII T7-G109 Fusion Drive, capable of powering the dual P84-12 Mod 0 plasma engines as well as all the other systems aboard the craft. The P84 engines are close mounted to the centerline of the crafts body so as to create a single line of thrust, so the pilot does not have to compensate for thrust pushing his craft left or right in the event of one of the two engines failing. The primary armament of the Viper is the B-X42 Particle Beam Accelerator system, borrowing the layout from its Arwing counterpart and boasting one PBA weapon under each of the two angular wings. The Viper has no energy shielding and sports a Class VII Armor Plated hull. The fuel system for the Viper is the Lylatian standard of deuterium fuel cells, capable of delivering 9x days of unrefueled operation in space environments, with roughly ~4x days of unrefueled operation in a Cornerian like atmosphere (thinner/thicker atmosphere and differing planetary gravity may affect fuel estimates). The craft is roughly 19.0 meters long and 8.0 meters wide, sporting laterally thicker wings than the Arwing without the obtrusive bulk of the g-diffuser system. The cockpit is heated and completely sealed for atmosphere. The cockpit and associated instruments are shielded against EMP and Radiation; protecting pilots in environments with high enough rad count to kill living organisms within 30x seconds. The Vipers' maneuverability capabilities are far less than the Arwing; however they are not to be trifled at. Viper black boxes and flight data records have shown pilots pulling excess of 6 G's in atmospheric combat and upwards of 9 G's sustained in space combat. The sustained turning rate of the Viper is 18 degrees / second, able to far outmaneuver most enemy aircraft. The Vipers G limits are +10.5 G & -4.5G. Unconfirmed report shows that a single Viper craft allegedly performed at ~12G for ~7x seconds prior to pilot blackout. The cockpit canopy provides the pilot an exceptional view of 288x degrees, the point directly behind the pilots head blocked by the power plant and engine framework/workings. The Vipers' central nervous system is its complex AI-403 Mk. 7 RABD-V (Range, Altitude, Bearing, Declination, Velocity) sensor suite, the data system that feeds back flight data, friendly/neutral/enemy data, altitude, current position, weapons guidance, etc. The life support systems aboard Vipers are able to support a pilot in hostile atmosphere, or vacuum, for ~3x days before replenishment is required. Vipers, along with their PBA weapon systems, are also able to carry 6x HOVE-SBM Mk. 12 Missiles (Smart Bombs) and numerous air to ground munitions. The smart bombs are linked to the RABD-V sensor suite prior to firing for target acquisition and upon leaving the under-body launch port of the Viper, become active-guided-munitions, devoid of any further input from the crafts sensor suite, allowing the pilot to fire and forget. The cockpit is also equipped with a Heads Up Display (HUD) allowing the pilot to link target data, flight information or even enhanced viewing of targets at ranges of 4.6 kilometers (optical aid alongside cockpit canopy). The maximum velocity of the Viper is: 1.4 Mach in Atmosphere / Space – ***Velocity Relative to Objects around Craft / Varies Widely***. Ejection is capable in the Viper; however Pilot must be equipped with EVA/Pressure Suit to eject in vacuum. In atmosphere, the Viper's seat ejects with the pilot, keeping him strapped in safely and a chute will deploy from the rear/top of the seat once the pilot has free-fallen to a safe altitude for chute deployment.

* * *

 *******Vessels*******

 **Cruisers** **(LVCCV – Lylatian Vessel Cruiser Combat Vessel)**

 **Battlecruisers**

Violet Class – 570 meter long, mid-size cruiser capable of supporting larger vessels in a defensive and moderate offensive role. _Violet class_ cruisers were developed to fill in the middle ground between Heavy battlecruisers and the smaller fast attack cruisers that are commonplace. The _Violet class_ fills this gap by boasting 2x B-X06IN heavy particle beam anti-ship weapons supported by 2x Generation II capacitors per particle rail, allowing two (2x) quick successive shots per weapon rail (4x shots total). Its point defense/self-defense systems are quite robust for a mid-size cruiser primarily designed for defense of larger vessels such as carriers that would normally provide flak coverage for its escorts. Full crew staffing is 328x personnel with _Violets_ able to be skeleton crewed by only 128x personnel. Onboard billeting includes sufficient living quarters and storage for a contingent of 450x Marines or Rangers as a security force or ground deployment force and their associated equipment. Violet class battlecruisers boast Class VIII Starship plating with a Class II light bow shielding system.

Terian Class – 690 meter long, larger battlecruiser barely skimming by not being labeled as a Heavy Battlecruiser. This is the first Lylatian cruiser outfitted with a kinetic weapon system, the PGRFRS-W Mod 2.1 Starship Rail Weapon. The cause for _Terians_ being so large is the vast capacitor banks and munitions storage/handling, as well as the large weapon systems barrel and loading mechanism. Due to their large and imposing size for being a mid-class cruiser, _Terian Class_ vessels are commonly utilized in "shows of force," saving engagement for when enemy forces close to within half of max engagement distance. Full crew staffing is 390x personnel with _Terians_ able to be skeleton crewed by 152x personnel. Onboard billeting includes sufficient living quarters and storage for a contingent of 375x Marines or Rangers as a security force or ground deployment force and their associated equipment. Terian class battlecruisers boast Class VIII Starship plating with no shielding due to power requirements from the rail weapon, the onboard reactor able to recharge the capacitors within 11x seconds. Due to the placement of the rail weapon, there is very little point defense capability on the underside, belly of the vessel, due to the main weapons electromagnets able to disrupt the point defense systems during firing.

 **Fast Attack Cruisers**

CCS Blitz Class – 430 meter long, this is the fastest and one of the smallest combat starships in the Lylatian fleet inventory, capable of both inter and extra atmospheric operations. For its size, it is armed to the teeth with more weapons systems and munitions per square meter than any other cruiser in inventory. However, what it has in offensive capability, it seriously lacks in defensive capability, sporting only Class V Starship armor plating and no shielding. As for its weapons systems, the _CC Blitz Class's_ primary offensive weapons are 2x parallel mounted B-X12H3 Particle Beam Cannons mated to a bank of 8x Generation II capacitors allowing for four (4x) successive shots per particle rail. The lateral portions of the _CCS Blitz Class_ house a battery of dual quad torpedo tube batteries, able to launch 8x ship-to-ship torpedoes from each side at a time. _CCS Blitz Class_ cruisers are equipped with the Fenrir Mk. 0 Mod 1 Anti-Ship Torpedo in their munitions bays. _CCS Blitzes_ rely on their vastly superior speed and maneuverability for being cruiser class vessels to harass enemy forces, drawing them into a prolonged cat and mouse chase, usually dangerously close to a planets gravity well, wherein the _Blitz_ can operate but many larger craft cannot. The _CCS Blitzes_ are one of the few vessels in Lylatian combat inventory that equip a dual AI operating system, one AI fully dedicated to ship control and weapons while the other is dedicated to tracking enemy targets and calculating safest route based on known or observed enemy weapons performance. This dual AI operating system makes _CCS Blitz Class_ craft highly desirable for capture by enemy forces. As for its munitions storage, most of onboard available space is fully dedicated to storing Fenrir torpedoes, capable of carrying upwards of 4,250x torpedoes in overflow munitions storage, 200x torpedoes loaded into automated loading rooms on each side of the vessel. Total capable load is 4,650x torpedoes; however a typical combat loadout is 3,600x total torpedoes. Full crew staffing is 168x personnel with _CCS Blitz_ able to be skeleton crewed by only 67x personnel. Onboard billeting includes sufficient living quarters and storage for a contingent of 80x Marines or Rangers as a security force or ground deployment force and their associated equipment.

 **Heavy Battlecruisers**

Fatorrah Class – 910 meter long, the workhorse of offensive craft in the Lylatian vessel inventory. This class of cruiser is truly a masterpiece of weaponry and offensive warship capability, boasting 4x parallel mounted B-X06IN Particle Beam Cannons, mounted to the left and right of the two rail pods. This heavy battlecruiser also has a handsome compliment of heavy point defense turrets all over its hull, providing full flak coverage. _Fatorrah Class_ vessels also house a dorsally mounted anti-ship missile battery, 12x batteries of 4x missile batteries (48x missile launching ports total). The missile batteries have an automated loading system capable of processing 1,220 missiles total and overflow storage for another 2,180 missiles. The _Fatorrahs_ armament of missiles is constituted of long range Guardian XRASM-03's. In terms of defense, the _Fatorrah_ is handily armored, sporting Class VIII Starship Plating and Class II Shields. Full crew staffing is 680x personnel with a _Fatorrah_ able to be skeleton crewed by 265x personnel. Onboard billeting includes sufficient living quarters and storage for a contingent of 910x Marines or Rangers as a security force or ground deployment force and their associated equipment.

 **Missile Cruisers**

Harbinger Class \- 815 meter long guided missile cruiser and one of the oldest designs in Lylatian fleet service, the Harbinger class having been in service since 50 BLW. The vessel is capable of firing both missiles and torpedoes. Commonly associated with heavy fleets and utilized in a dual offensive/defensive role, softening enemy lines with overwhelming barrages of missile and torpedo attacks. The Harbinger Class missile cruiser's main cannon is a dual mounted B-X06IN Particle Beam Cannon, side by side mounted and mated to a bank of 3x Generation I capacitors per firing rail. Being missile cruisers, the remaining bank of primary weapons include 20x Batteries of quad missile launching ports per side of the vessel (160x missile launching ports in total). There is also a bank of 8x torpedo launching batteries two decks below the missile launcher ports on either side (32x torpedo ports on the flanks of the vessel). Along the dorsal line of the vessel, there is a bank of 14x Torpedo launcher batteries allowing for an additional 28x anti-ship torpedoes to be launched. Given the age of this vessel series, most Harbinger Class vessels are slotted for the "Fleet Modernization Program" under CDF Combat Acquisitions Directive 12-716A, outlining an overhaul to existing shipboard reactors and upgrading the weapons capacitors to Generation II systems. Current stats are that 50% of Harbinger Series vessels have undergone the modifications under CDF-CAD 12-716A. Further upgrades include improved automated missile and torpedo processing/loading systems. Harbinger Class vessels missile loading systems are capable of processing 3,480 missiles total (1,740 missiles per side) with an overflow storage of 9,400 missiles. Missile inventory is commonly Guardian XRASM-03's, however the Harbinger Class cruiser can process any missile in Lylatian Inventory and commonly carries the Salos ASVM Mod 3.6's. Typical missile loadout is 75-90% Guardian XRASM-03's. Torpedo automated processing/loading systems allow for 1,800 torpedoes ready to be fired from the flank and dorsal launching ports (3x salvos per tube / 480x torpedoes per flank / 840x torpedoes on dorsal) with an overflow storage of 6,530 torpedoes. Torpedo inventory is exclusively the Fenrir Mk. 0 Mod 1 Anti-Ship Torpedo. Harbingers have poor self defense systems in terms of point defense cannons and as such are wrapped in a protective layer of Class IX starship armor plating with no shielding systems as such would interfere with targeting and guidance systems of the missiles and torpedoes. Full crew staffing is 172x personnel with a _Harbinger_ able to be skeleton crewed by 67x personnel. Onboard billeting includes sufficient living quarters and storage for a contingent of 36x Marines or Rangers as a security force or ground deployment force and their associated equipment.

 **Carriers** **(LVCC – Lylatian Vessel Carrier Class)**

Feolan Class \- 2.1 kilometer long Lylatian heavy carrier, designed to support prolonged single ship combat operations and support ground combat operations with fighters, bombers and logistics support. The Feolan Class is the flagship(s) of whatever fleet it may be assigned to. Commonly deployed in pairs and splitting a fleet into two separate battlegroups for diverse engagement of enemy forces. Internal berthing is capable of supporting up to 568x Viper series fighters. Lylatian carriers do not have any primary weapons systems and rely on projection from their fleet and fighter contingent as well as an array of anti-ship missiles (Guardian XRASM-03's) and onboard point defense systems. Feolans possess impressive sensor, scanner and RABD-V systems/arrays which allow them a wide range of control and discrimination between friendly and enemy fighter assets. The armament of missile ports is a dorsal and ventral mounted set of 8x quad launcher batteries (16x batteries total) totaling 64x missile launcher ports. Missile automated processing/loading systems allow for 256x missiles ready to be fired from the ventral and dorsal launching ports (4x salvos per tube / 128x missiles per battery bank) with an overflow storage of 1,380x missiles. Crew count is substantial given that there is a contingent of mechanics and logistics personnel along with pilots, naval and marine/ranger personnel. Vessel naval crewing is 2,680 with skeleton crew capable at 1,045 naval personnel. The air-wing contingent is dependent on the number of supported fighters, however can be up to 2,840 personnel. Feolan class carriers always have an MEDF attached, accounting for an additional 2,700 Marines and associated equipment. Total personnel capability for Feolan class carriers is 8,220 personnel.

Gammon Class \- 1.9 kilometer long Lylatian carrier, designed to support prolonged single ship combat operations and support ground combat operations with fighters, bombers and logistics support. The Gammon Class can serve as the flagship(s) of whatever fleet it may be assigned to. Internal berthing is capable of supporting up to 498x Viper series fighters. Lylatian carriers do not have any primary weapons systems and rely on projection from their fleet and fighter contingent as well as an array of anti-ship missiles (Guardian XRASM-03's) and onboard point defense systems. Gammons possess impressive sensor, scanner and RABD-V systems/arrays which allow them a wide range of control and discrimination between friendly and enemy fighter assets. The armament of missile ports is a lateral mirror mounted set of 8x quad launcher batteries (16x batteries total) totaling 64x missile launcher ports. Missile automated processing/loading systems allow for 320x missiles ready to be fired from the lateral launching ports (5x salvos per tube / 160x missiles per battery bank) with an overflow storage of 1,240x missiles. Crew count is substantial given that there is a contingent of mechanics and logistics personnel along with pilots, naval and marine/ranger personnel. Vessel naval crewing is 2,310 with skeleton crew capable at 900 naval personnel. The air-wing contingent is dependent on the number of supported fighters, however can be up to 2,490 personnel. Feolan class carriers always have an MEDF attached, accounting for an additional 2,700 Marines and associated equipment. Total personnel capability for Gammon class carriers is 7,500 personnel.

Saransen Class \- 2.35 kilometer long Lylatian heavy carrier and the newest heavy carrier design in fleet service, designed to support prolonged single ship combat operations and support ground combat operations with fighters, bombers and logistics support. The Saransen Class is the flagship(s) of whatever fleet it may be assigned to. Commonly deployed in carrier battlegroups and splitting a fleet into separate battlegroups for diverse engagement of enemy forces. Internal berthing is capable of supporting up to 612x Viper series fighters. Lylatian carriers do not have any primary weapons systems and rely on projection from their fleet and fighter contingent as well as an array of anti-ship missiles (Guardian XRASM-03's) and onboard point defense systems. Saransens possess impressive sensor, scanner and RABD-V systems/arrays which allow them a wide range of control and discrimination between friendly and enemy fighter assets. The armament of missile ports is a dorsal and ventral mounted set of 24x quad launcher batteries (48x batteries total) totaling 192x missile launcher ports. Missile automated processing/loading systems allow for 768x missiles ready to be fired from the ventral and dorsal launching ports (4x salvos per tube / 384x missiles per battery bank) with an overflow storage of 4,600x missiles. Crew count is substantial given that there is a contingent of mechanics and logistics personnel along with pilots, naval and marine/ranger personnel. Vessel naval crewing is 2,970 with skeleton crew capable at 1,158 naval personnel. The air-wing contingent is dependent on the number of supported fighters, however can be up to 3,060 personnel. Feolan class carriers always have an MEDF attached, accounting for an additional 2,700 Marines and associated equipment. Total personnel capability for Saransen class carriers is 8,730 personnel.

 **Corvettes** **(LVSC – Lylatian Vessel Small Combat)**

Limpet Class -

 **Frigates** **(LCVFC – Lylatian Combat Vessel Frigate Class)**

Indigo Class -

Safrum Class -

Yezeri Class -

 **Orbital Defense Platforms**

Gladiator Class -

 **Recon Craft** **(RVCA – Recon Vehicle Combat Application)**

 **Drones**

Cerberus Class -

 **Manned**

Gideon Class -

 **Troop Transport** **(LCTSS – Lylatian Carrier/Transport Supply Ship)**

Kigimorra Class – 2.7 kilometer long, massive troop transport originally constructed for the 12th Main Battle fleet. Capable of carrying nearly 10,000x ground combat personnel and associated equipment. Crew size of 748x personnel (max). Skeleton crew capable at 290x personnel. Only 20x _Kigimorra Class_ vessels in existence, 10x stationed separate from the 12th MBF in Tarn and 4x in Lylat for reserve emergency transport of troops. _Kigimorras_ are designed to and crews trained on supporting "orbital drop insertions" for up to six months of entirely unsupported operations. Despite their huge size and troop carrying capability, they're relatively not well defended, equipped with only Class VII Starship Plating and Class III shielding over the entire hull. Primary uses of power systems are for redundant life support assets and systems as well as quality of life control for the vast quantities of personnel stationed aboard the vessels. Armament is relegated to automated heavy point defense cannons capable of systematic and relatively impressive flak coverage of the vessels vulnerable flanks. Otherwise, defensive and offensive capability is restricted to the supporting Frigates' and Cruisers' capabilities, _Kigimorras_ remaining back out of the primary fighting areas till a safe block for input of personnel to the planet's surface is achieved.

* * *

 **Fleets:**

 **7th Heavy Fleet** – Lylat Based. On presence and pleasure patrol throughout expanse, in Tantalos System on Invasion Day. Destroyed in the first 2 days of conflict.

 **4th Fleet** – Tantalos Based. Limping along.

2x Carriers ( _Feolan Class_ )

LVCC-108 _Farrons Edge_

LVCC-201 _Sorrows Contempt_

12x Battlecruisers ( _Violet Class_ )

LVCCV-121 _The Kilcot_

LVCCV-126 _Childers_

LVCCV-150 _The_ _Alaric_

LVCCV-159 _Mounts Bay_

LVCCV-177 _The Berma_

LVCCV-192 _The Araxes_

LVCCV-200 _The Sharpshooter_

LVCCV-217 _Fort Shoreham_

LVCCV-219 _The Auckland_

LVCCV-224 _Ocelots Eye_

LVCCV-226 _Untiring_

LVCCV-238 _Independence_

28x Frigates ( _Indigo & Yezeri Class_) – 2x Indigo & 2x Yezeri in each Frigate Combat Unit (FCU)

LCVFC-FCU19 _Tobruks Four_

LCVFC-106, LCVFC-109, LCVFC-110, LCVFC-121

LCVFC-FCU22 _Firebrand_

LCVFC-125, LCVFC-132, LCVFC-133, LCVFC-136

LCVFC-FCU27 _Proselytes Fame_

LCVFC-137, LCVFC-151, LCVFC-154, LCVFC-170

LCVFC-FCU38 _Deanes Choice_

LCVFC-107, LCVFC-112, LCVFC-119, LCVFC-134

LCVFC-FCU39 _The Hunters Aid_

LCVFC-130, LCVFC-131, LCVFC-174, LCVFC-203

LCVFC-FCU44 _Cheerful Aggressor_

LCVFC-177, LCVFC-181, LCVFC-187, LCVFC-196

LCVFC-FCU72 _Fearless_

LCVFC-243, LCVFC-247, LCVFC-268, LCVFC-295

 **8th Fleet** – Tantalos Based. Limping along.

2x Carriers ( _Feolan Class_ )

LVCC-119 _Campanias' Company_

LVCC-148 _Grandmeres Security_

12x Battlecruisers ( _Terian Class_ )

LVCCV-76 _The Kilcot_

LVCCV-126 _Childers_

LVCCV-150 _The_ _Alaric_

LVCCV-159 _Mounts Bay_

LVCCV-177 _The Berma_

LVCCV-192 _The Araxes_

LVCCV-200 _The Sharpshooter_

LVCCV-217 _Fort Shoreham_

LVCCV-219 _The Auckland_

LVCCV-224 _Ocelots Eye_

LVCCV-226 _Untiring_

LVCCV-238 _Independence_

28x Frigates ( _Indigo & Yezeri Class_)

 **12th Main Battle Fleet** – Tarn Based. Heavy combat fleet designed for assault against fortified enemy planets.

\- 108th Heavy Assault Force

\- 4x Carriers ( _Saransen Class_ )

\- 6x Heavy Armed Troop Transport ( _Kigimorra Class_ )

\- 18x Heavy Battlecruisers ( _Fatorrah Class_ )

\- 24x Light Frigates ( _Safrum Class_ )

\- 2x Heavy Armed Recon Vessel ( _Gideon Class_ )

\- 8x Missile Cruisers ( _Harbinger Class_ )

 **19th Light Attack Fleet** – Serus Based. Deployed to Tantalos for support of 4th  & 8th Fleets.

\- 107th Special Aviation Squadron

\- 3x Light Assault Carriers ( _Gammon Class_ )

\- 9x Fast Attack Cruisers ( _CCS Blitz Class_ )

\- 4x Corvettes ( _Limpet Class_ )

* * *

 **Ground Forces:**

 **108th Heavy Assault Force** – 48,100 Ground Personnel + Associated Equipment

\- Ground attack force consisting of Marines, Naval and Army Personnel to include Armored Ground Assets and Mobile Artillery

\- 6x Marine Expeditionary Force Detachments (16th – 21st MEFDs) – 16,200 Marine Personnel total [Billeted to LCTSS-90 & LCTSS-92 Transports]

\- 2x Army Divisions (2nd & 9th) – 24,000 Army Personnel total [Billeted to LCTSS-93, LCTSS-94, LCTSS-95 Transports]

\- 1x Armored Ground Assault Brigade (39th Tank Brigade) – 3,800 Personnel [Billeted to LCTSS-96 Transport]

\- 1x Mobile Artillery Brigade (77th Special SPARTY Brigade) – 4,100 Personnel [Billeted to LCTSS-96]

* * *

 **Aerial/Space Forces:**

107th Special Aviation Squadron

Based in Serus. Attached to 19th Light Attack Fleet.

Structure:

Craft: F-46 Mk. III (Viper)


End file.
